What If?
by SpitfireWestAllen15
Summary: What if Season Three WAS saved? Let's just say it was... It's been a year since "Endgame" occurred. Dick's moved on, Artemis is trying, and yet the Team is a force to be reckoned with. But the arrival of certain faces, and the reappearance of others, could be enough to make this force crumble, which could be disaster with the new darkness approaching. Heavy on the 'dis'.
1. Prologue: Reflection of the Golden Trio

**Okay, so I just finished watching season 2 of Young justice. Again. For the fourth time. :3**

 **And I'm not very turbed that they left all us fans on the biggest cliffhanger and the worst ending. Not turbed at all.**

 **Sooo, I got to thinking and I thought how cool it would be if we finally knew what happened after Wally died, Dick left the Team and Vandaal Savage met up with freakin 'DARKSEID'! WHAT THE HELL?!**

 **I think I'm going to write this fanfic similarly to how the episodes played out. Also, there will be between 20-26 chapters as that's how many eps we got from YJ.**

 **Without further ado, please enjoy 'What If'!**

 **PROLOGUE: Reflection of the Golden Trio**

 **North Magnetic Pole**

 **June 20, 13:49 UTC**

 **Wally's POV**

As yet another energy pulse from the expanding chrysalis hit me, another white-hot, blindingly painful shock passed through my body. My back arched and a gut-wrenching scream erupted from my throat. _Keep pushing, Wally_ , I thought to myself. The fate of the world was at stake here. I watched as Barry and Bart rushed past me, somehow feeling shame in amongst the outrageous pain coursing through me. Of course both the Allens were faster than me, of course I couldn't match their speed.

I glanced down at my hand and freaked out when I saw it was becoming transparent. This was it. I wasn't going to make it out of this one. Barry came up to me, and I could see through the cowl that his determined expression was contorting into that of a horrified one.

'Bart, we have to slow down more. Try to syphon off some of the energy attacking Wally', he yelled to his grandson.

I saw his hand pass right through me. Yep, I was screwed. The Wallman had had his last hurrah.

'It's no good, Barry. Oh man, Artemis is so gonna kill me for this. And don't even get me started on Mom and Dad.' I tried to keep some light in my tone, for their sakes.

'Kid?' Both Barry and Bart looked full-on terrified now. I wanted to tell them it okay, I accepted this fate if it meant saving the world. But I just didn't have the time. I gave Barry my last request, wanting the three most important people in my life to know how much I cared. I felt I didn't say it enough.

'Just tell them, okay?'

'Kid!' Barry reached out to me, but it was to no avail as the light grew brighter and brighter, and they got further and further away, until Wallace Rudolph West was no more.

/*/*/*/

Or so I thought. Just as I thought the end had come, and my conscious would cease to exist, I was greeted by a voice.

'Welcome, Wallace.'

'Uh, thanks, mysterious, deep voice that's seemingly coming from nowhere. Where the hell am I?'

The entire area around me was alive with rushing colours: blue, red, yellow, orange, black and white. They didn't stop moving even though they didn't appear to be going anywhere. I glanced down and did a double-take when I saw that I was just a yellow ball of energy.

'Wallace, you have transferred from the materialistic world and become apart of the phenomena known on Earth as the Speed Force. You've become _one_ with the Speed Force.'

Speed Force. Woah. I'd heard Barry and Jay mention it once or twice, about how it was the… the thing that we speedsters drew our powers from.

The voice then spoke up again. 'This is the place where all speedsters, past and present, come to lay their final rest after they pass or cease to exist in the solid universe. Speedsters from all over the universe are here, not just from Earth. Here, you will never feel pain or sorrow, just the peace of steady movement in which we crave and abide in. you would have no memory of the troubles you had faced during your time on Earth, and would only remember the contentment of continuously running. Time operates differently here too; you have no concept of it, as it appears that none passes once you are here.'

I thought about this for a moment. It was just so much to take in. Not to feel pain again? That'd be real nice. After all the shit that had happened to me over the past year, no pain for the rest of eternity would be great. And forgetting about not only the deaths of all my friends and loved ones, and the traumatic experiences in the Team, but all the bullying in my school years. But this voice, who I'd figured was either some part of the Speed Force, or the Speed Force itself, was implying there was more to it. I'd basically never feel _anything_ ever again: not joy, not determination, not love.

And I'd forget my entire existence. All the great memories of that winning feeling in getting A's in Science, of becoming Kid Flash, of meeting Rob and Kaldur, of founding the Team. Working with all those great people who made my life whole. I'd forget that humbled satisfaction in saving lives. I'd forget Dick was my best friend, and no matter how much crap we put each other through, we'd always be best friends. How we could make each other laugh by just standing still. How I trusted him with my life.

Worst of all, I'd forget Artemis. Arty. We were fire and ice, me and her, and I'd yet to feel anything more blissful than her lips against mine. I couldn't live without my babe. I couldn't _be_ without my babe. I'd meant to propose before Dick had asked her to go undercover. I'd forget everything in my life, and I wouldn't feel anything ever again. I wouldn't be me.

Glancing up with whatever I had to see (didn't think I had eyes anymore, considering my current form), I firmly said to the voice, 'Look, this is great and all, but my life was finally looking up. I got my girlfriend back, my best friend and I were reconciling; I don't want to end it. Is there any way I can get out of this?'

There was a brief pause, and then the voice came back with, 'The only way you can be called back to your former physical state and mind is if you are summoned.'

I was extremely confused. 'Summoned? How can I be-?'

I didn't even get to finish the question as I felt myself being pulled into the constant kinetic energy that all other speedsters were currently travelling through cluelessly, and I became at peace.

 **THE WATCHTOWER**

 **July 4, 21:18 EDT**

 **Dick's POV**

'Business as usual', I murmured, before turning towards the Zeta Tubes.

I still couldn't fathom how it had happened. It had all been looking up for us all. I'd already sworn to myself even before the whole 'chrysalis' situation that I'd never ask Wally or Artemis to join the superhero gig ever again. After all, Artemis had nearly been killed on multiple occasions and Wally's faith and trust in me had seriously faltered. Not that I could blame him. Not that it even mattered anymore.

' _Recognised: Nightwing B01.'_

Even if Wally had made it, even if he had forgiven me, I already knew I would never forgive myself. I could never trust myself with someone I cared about ever again. I scoffed as I realised that after all this time, I'd finally become the person I never thought I would. I'd become just like Bruce: ruthless, unrelenting, ready to do anything for the sake of the mission. A person who thought the only way he could keep his loved ones safe was to stay far away.

That's just what I was going to do. Distance myself from the Team, from Artemis, from Time. From Babs. I needed a break, to re-establish myself as a hero and a person.

Walking out of the phone booth in Bludhaven, I made my way to the old hideout, where I kept spare gear. Including civivies. I needed to distance myself from Young Justice and the League. I jumped and flipped down from the roof I'd been on, making my way to thee make-shift 'Mount Justice'.

Suddenly, a thought crossed my mind. Travel. Tour the world, rediscover just who Richard John Grayson was. New York, Paris, Sydney, Rome, Tokyo. I took off my domino mask and stared down on it with a smile. Who knows? Maybe Nightwing could tag along too.

Glancing up at a nearby mirror, a look of determination crossed my blue eyes. That was it. I'd pack up my things and catch the first plane out of here. The Team would manage perfectly fine without me, and I'd told Kaldur that if there was an issue, Barbara was more than capable to rise up to the challenge, and to call if they needed me. I needed this. I _needed_ it.

 **PALO ALTO**

 **July 4, 19:53 PDT**

 **Artemis' POV**

Opening the door to the house for the first time in months should've felt fantastic. Liberating. Safe. Secure. Yet, I felt anything but. I got inside and dropped to the floor, collapsing on the ground as sobs racked my body. Telling Wally's parents had been almost as painful as finding out that he was…

In that moment, Rupert came bounding up to me, tongue lolling out of his mouth, tail wagging like his life depended on it. God, I'd missed that dog.

'Hey buddy, d'you miss me? I missed you so, so much', I said as I rubbed his head and neck. He sat down and began licking my face, where the tear-stains had made themselves apparent. Coming back home would've been unbearable if Rupert hadn't been there. The silence would've killed me. Truth be told, I didn't know how Wally had survived all those months I'd been gone. It had barely been five minutes and I already couldn't stand being there without my Baywatch. Probably because I knew that time, Wally wasn't coming back home, bringing Ben & Jerry's with him as he burst through the door, exclaiming in his best French accent, 'Guess who didn't die on the missión today!'

It had always been more of a statement than a question as there had never been any doubt. Well, guess there wasn't any doubt now, either.

I stumbled to my feet and pulled my turtleneck sweater off. Making my way to the bedroom, Rupert hot on my tail, I stripped down until I was just wearing my bra and underwear. As I walked over to the desk of drawers and pulled one of them out, a single shameless tear slid down my cheek. I pulled out Wally's over-sized, over-cheesy Christmas sweater and slipped it on. Somehow, it was both comforting and demeaning at the same time.

It smelt just like him. Sweet, beautiful, clumsy, brilliant, intelligent, cocky, dorky, perfect him. Laying down on the bed, not even bothering with getting beneath the doona, I stared up at the ceiling. I contemplated my decision to stay on the Team. Dick was probably really smart taking a break.

Part of me thought that I was doing this because I missed it, but reality kicked in and I realised I was using it as a distraction. Going back to the lifestyle Wally and I had had would've killed, it wouldn't have been the same without him. I couldn't stand living an ordinary life as before, as 100% of my normal life had consisted of Wally. Now that was gone, and the Team seemed to be just the right replacement. Sure, returning to the gang was awesome, but it wasn't the same, not without Wally.

Rupert had jumped onto the bed and laid beside me, staring at the front door. His ears drooped and he started whimpering. He glanced at me and gave the sweetest puppy-dog eyes, as if he was questioning me.

I patted his head and he snuggled in close. 'You wanna know where Wally is, don't you, baby boy? You miss him already…'

I wrapped a protective arm around his middle and let tears fall into the side of his neck. 'Me too, Rupey, me too.'

 **Fudge, I was listening to 'Say something' while writing that last POV, and the FEELS ARE REAL! Crying rn, tbh…**

 **Soooo, not sure how this went, but this is the prologue to the fanfic. Next chapter, we get a glimpse of a cute couple and to how the team is doing 365 days later.**

 **Also, if you couldn't tell, I SHIP SPITFIRE! I SHIP DIBS! Forever 3**

 **Much Love xx**

 **~SpitfireWestAllen15**


	2. Chapter 1: Disappearing Act

**AUTHOR'S NOTE: heyooooo :***

 **I loved writing this chapter, probably as this is exactly how I wanted it to be in the series. But idgaf, Imma do what I want.**

 **Remember, I love reviews, favourites and follows ;)**

 **Disclaimer: Sadly, I don't own any of these characters. Real bummer, cos they all rock. DC owns all these BAMFs**

 **CHAPTER 1: Disappearing Act**

 **GOTHAM CITY**

 **July 4, 20:58 EST**

 **1 YEAR LATER**

'Come on already, Tim! We're gonna be late!'

'Ugh, Cass, Bruce is so gonna kill me for sneaking out late. And for the reasons behind my sneaking-out-late.'

'Oh shut up, Boy Blunder…'

The 15-year-old blond, perky, Amazon flew through the alleyway. Glancing behind, she let out a small giggle as she saw a certain black-haired boy leaping over a trash can, adding a front-flip just for kicks.

 _Hum,_ she thought to herself. _Showoff! But I can do that too, and_ so _much better._

She proceeded to doing a graceful underwater-like somersault in the air, before flying back to Tim's side. He sighed as she quirked an eyebrow at him.

'Yeah, I get it, Cass. _You can fly_ , a fact that hasn't changed for nearly two years. You do realise, though, that if you just tell me where exactly it is that we're going, I'd definitely be able to get there faster than your sorry butt.'

She laughed. 'Well then, that'd ruin the surprise, wouldn't it? And last time I checked, the thing with surprises is that they surprise you! Bt-dubs, I didn't know you were paying so much attention to my butt. You like?'

Ignoring her last remark, he scoffed. 'Nothing with you surprises me anymore, Cassandra Sandsmark.'

Still flying above the Boy Wonder, she smirked down at him and said, 'Wanna bet, Timothy Drake?'

The boy barely had time to formulate a witty response before the cheeky teenage girl swept down and kissed him full on the lips, still flying. Just as Tim had evaluated what was happening and getting ready to kiss her right back, Cassie pulled away, laughing as she flew high above him. He furrowed his eyebrows and smirked, before pulling out a grappling hook out of his jacket and hoisting himself up on top of the nearby building.

Looking around at the scenery before him, a small gasp escaped his lips as he looked down over the side over the building to see a drive-in movie at Gotham Park. He glanced up at the girl above him, and they beamed at each other.

'You remembered!' Tim exclaimed.

Cassie came down to stand next to him and pecked him on the cheek. "Course I did, silly. Unlike some people…'

'Hey, it was a six month anniversary; who remembers six months anniversaries?'

She glared at him with a look that would've made Batman shiver. 'Okay, you did, but that's cause you're a hopeless romantic.'

'Completely, utterly, hopelessly romantic', she whispered, each word taking her a step closer to the frozen teen.

He winked at her before she could make an advancement onto his lips again, and pulled away, stood aside and revealed a single chair with a mattress and pillows in front, with a portable freezer to the side.

'I remembered too', he said sincerely, and had to quickly leap out of the way as the squealing girl flew past him and straight over to the freezer. Pulling off the lid, her elated smile turned into something for the Cheshire Cat to be jealous of as she took out the contents.

'Rocky Road _and_ Cookies 'n' Cream? And BananaChoco Froyo?!'

Cassie gasped as she pulled out another two items. 'O.M.G. Hershey's and pink lemonade. That's it, I can't stand it any longer.'

She flew over to Tim, flung her arms around his neck and kissed him as passionately as she could. Tim, taken aback as always, took a moment to respond before kissing her back with just as much fire as she had kissed him. He let his arms trail around to the dip in her back and pulled her closer, making their kiss more desperate.

Breaking apart, the two teens just stood for a moment, contently staring into each other's different variation of blue eyes. Tim felt himself getting lost in Cassie's stunning sky blue eyes. They reminded him of when the sun was at its peak in the sky, shining harder and brighter than other time. That ever-lasting twinkle in Cass' eyes was the sun, that eternally-welcoming feeling always resided in them. Just looking into her eyes always motivated him to keep going, whether it was during a mission, studying for an upcoming Physics exam, or sorting through Bruce's old villain files.

Cassie, on the other hand, thought of Tim's blue-green eyes as the sea. And they really reflected one another quite perfectly. On the outside, his eyes gave away nothing, just big orbs that looked like a giant expanse of nothing. But if you dared to dive and delve deeper, you'd discover an array of colours, and life everywhere, beautiful, colourful, exciting life. Both gorgeous and dark secrets would be uncovered, but you'd end up loving it all, every damn part of it. Just as Cassie had come to love Tim, as he loved her.

'Happy one year anniversary, Wonder Girl', he said, eyes not leaving hers.

Happy one year anniversary, Robin', she whispered, as she leaned in to kiss him again.

This time, it was slower, safer, surer. Their lips moved together in synchronization, as though doing an intricate, delicate dance. Gently pulling apart, Cassie rested her forehead on Tim's. Closing her eyes in comfort. He softly chuckled as her long, dark eyelashes batted and tickled his eyes. He loved it when that happened.

The moment ended too quickly for him as she grabbed his hand raced over to their little, private setup. Cassie raised her eyebrow as she looked at the single chair. And raised it even further when Tim sat down in it.

He patted his lap. 'Your chair, m'lady.'

She giggled and proceeded to laying across his lap, not without the freezer.

'You do know the movie is _Terminator,_ right? Just sayin'', mumbled Cassie as she stuffed a Hershey into her mouth.

Tim opened his mouth and Cassie promptly popped another chocolate in. 'Perks of having a genius hacker for a boyfriend? Cheap-ass drive-in movies got nothin' on me.'

She raised an eyebrow but quickly lowered it as she heard very audible groans and shouts from down below as opening credits of _Friends with Benefits_ rolled in: her favourite flick. She let out a small _aww_ sound before nestling her head into the crook of his neck. It was perfect. They had the perfect spot, the perfect view, they were watching the perfect movie, and they were two perfect people. It was pure bliss.

Tim's finger's started unconsciously combing through his girlfriend's hair, a sign or internal discomfort.

Cassie sat up and looked at him. 'What's wrong?'

'What? Nothing, I'm fine.' He looked away.

She raised a disbelieving eyebrow at him. 'Tim, you're doing that thing where you start playing with my hair. You're worried about something.'

He smiled at her. 'Can't keep anything from you.'

He sighed. 'It's just… I dunno, I haven't heard from Dick for a while. I'm worried about him.'

She squeezed his shoulder comfortingly. 'I'm sure he's fine. I mean, he's Nightwing for Hera's sake! When'd you last hear from him?'

A pause. 'Two months, one week and five days.'

Cassie was taken aback. She knew how close the two Batman protégés were, three if you counted Barbara. After Nightwing had left the Team, he'd called both of his bat-buds every day for two months. He'd eased down to once a week, giving them an update on where exactly he was in the world. Leaving both people two and a half months with any recognition? That was bad.

'I-I'm sure he's fine, Tim. Is Bruce worried?'

'No, but I think he's beginning to.'

If Daddy Bats believed there was a reason to stress, then that meant everyone else should've already wet their pants. Cassie gave him a sideways hug as they continued to watch the movie. After all, it was Dick Grayson they were talking about. How much trouble could he _really_ get into?

 **THE WATCHTOWER**

 **July 5, 00:12 EDT**

 **1 YEAR LATER**

Laughter erupted through the many levels of the Justice League and Young Justice Team headquarters. It had been a nice change for both teams, bringing a fresh breath of life to the League, and a better sense of authority for the Team.

Hawkwoman had been helping Green Lantern shift new arrivals of system updates to the control room, when both heroes had to leap up into the air suddenly as a screaming, miniature Bumblebee flew through the hallway. She muttered a brief 'sorry' before she continued her escape. Shayera and John glanced at each other before they stared down the hallway to see a green rhinoceros trampling towards the humming of Bumblebee's artificial wings.

Beast Boy stopped short and stared up at the senior members of the League. 'Did Bumblebee come through here? She stole my iPod.'

John raised an eyebrow while Shayera simply chuckled and pointed toward the direction of the black and yellow woman. 'You'll find her down that way, probably huddling in some corner. Good luck, Garfield.'

The rhino somehow beamed up at the winged woman and yelled out, 'Thanks Hawkwoman! See you guys later!'

With that, he continued his stampede.

* * *

'Good job, Alpha Squad. Yet another successful mission.'

Aqualad smiled at his teammates as they came racing through the entrance. Kid Flash and Blue Beetle high-fived before turning toward the entertainment room, while Miss Martian and Superboy came in holding hands. M'gann giggled and rose up to peck her boyfriend on the cheek. Aqualad looked around, searching the team for a moment before turning to Conner.

'Where is Batgirl? I trust she is alright?'

The couple walked over to their leader, and M'gann said, 'She said something about trying to talk to Dick. She's still worried about him, it being a year since Wally, you know…'

A trio shared a solemn look. They knew that today was exactly one year since Wally had died and Dick had left. Barbara had taken his departure the worst, as Artemis had taken Wally's death. The two girls had seriously bonded over it in the last 12 months. They often went out on solo crusades together, occasionally inviting Zatanna, when their repressed memories came back to haunt them. They all knew Barbara was drifting further and further away from the Team, the League, and the 'Bat-family', as the rest of them called it. She had even recently altered her costume so it no longer mirrored Batman's.

Kaldur stood in wonder for a moment, before an idea sprung to his head. 'Artemis has been spending a lot of her spare time in Gotham City as of late. Perhaps we could ask her to check in with Barbara?'

M'gann smiled and Conner just shrugged. 'Sounds like it could work.'

 **GOTHAM CITY**

 **July 5, 02:19 EST**

 **1 YEAR LATER**

Babs didn't get it. Poison Ivy wasn't one to usually leave a single leaf behind, let alone a whole mess of plants. The villainess must've had an ulterior motive, a first for the tree-hugging criminal. She bent down and carefully picked up a strange-looking orange flower. Keeping it away from her nose, mouth and eyes, she examined it. Pamela Isley must've _wanted_ this plant to be left behind, _wanted_ it taken away, _wanted_ it to be examined.

She carefully slid it into one of the compartments of her utility belt, hotting down a mental note to examine it anywhere _but_ the Batcave of Watchtower.

The red-haired woman stood up and made a swift exit away from the alleyway. _Why's it always an alleyway_ , she pondered.

She somersaulted into the air and landed on an external flight of stairs. Pulling out her grappling hook, she was soon on top of one of Gotham's tall buildings. Laughing to herself, she'd found she'd taken up Batman's signature pose: standing on a ledge, looking over the city beneath, cape billowing out beside her. Up there, she could kill two birds with one stone. She would have an excellent view of all Gotham's darkest streets and it was quiet enough to let her clear her head.

And naturally, the first thing that came into her mind was Hunk Wonder himself. Dick Grayson. The amount of times she'd wanted to strangle that boy the past twelve months was ridiculous. It had been the first time they hadn't celebrated his birthday together in ten years, and it was hitting home. She wouldn't admit it to anyone, but she missed him more than anything else in the world.

She let out a sigh. He hadn't called in so long, and she was really starting to stress. Pulling out her normal phone, she looked at the last conversation they'd had.

 ** _.grayson:_** _heyyy babs, ya miss me? ;)_

 ** _babs_g:_** _I'm fairly certain you already know the answer to that, Dweeb Wonder…_

 ** _.grayson:_** _dweeb? really babs? arent you supposed to be the mature one?_

 ** _babs_g:_** _Well, you're the one who's been gone 9 months now! … when are you coming back?_

 ** _.grayson:_** _look barb, i know its… hard, on you guys, me leaving like that…_

 ** _babs_g:_** _Hard?! It hasn't been hard, it's been awful! And it's not the leaving we're worried about, it's the returning. Which you haven't done yet…_

 ** _.grayson:_** _i'm gonna come back soon. And i'll bring plenty of souvenirs too. i promise_

 ** _babs_g:_** _Cross your heart? 3_

 ** _.grayson:_** _cross my heart, hope to die, stick a needle in my eye :D_

 ** _babs_g:_** _Good, Im holding you to that Grayson. Sooo, where on my globe are you now?_

 ** _.grayson:_** _i'm pretty sure you know how to find that out on your own, but i'll be nice. i'm actually in tokyo atm, eating really good sashimi :P did you know that raw tuna is purple-brown?_

 ** _babs_g:_** _Lol, that's great. Make sure you go to a cat café while you're there and snap a pic for Bruce. You know why ;)_

 ** _babs_g:_** _Dick, hellooooooo! You there?_

 ** _.grayson:_** _Sorry babs, theres a commotion outside, I'll be back in a sec. stay whelmed xx_

 ** _babs_g:_** _Kay, you too xx_

 ** _babs_g:_** _Ugh, Dick, its been two days. that must be some commotion…_

 ** _babs_g:_** _Dick, seriously can you please answer my texts?_

 ** _babs_g:_** _Richard John Grayson, I swear, if you don't answer me, I'll make Batman look like the good cop…_

The texts went on, and the urgency of them increased with every message. Her phone vibrated and a text from Artemis came up.

 ** _arrowette:_** _behind you ;)_

She leapt into the air, did a back-flip with a half-twist and landed perfectly square, ready to take on whatever came her way. _Thank you, gymnastics,_ she thought.

A steady clap and a small _yay_ came from the shadows in front of her. Barbara relaxed and walked toward the sound once she realised it was just Artemis, dressed in her Tigress uniform.

'Someone's on edge, hey Babs?'

She chuckled. 'Sorry, Art. And yeah, just been a bit jumpy lately. How've you been?'

'Busy, as usual. Trying to juggle the Team and Psychology classes at the same time. Don't even get me started on the dogs. How 'bout you?'

A nervous hand went up to the back of Batgirl's neck. 'Honestly? I don't know. Batman's been down my throat ever since I started straying. I think he's a bit afraid that all his little birds are going to leave the nest. My dad is starting to catch on to my double life, which is what's been making me so jumpy. And Dick hasn't returned any of my calls, texts, Snapchats, messages, anything. Stupid Grayson.'

Her older friend walked over to her and Barbara sound found herself enveloped in a hug. 'I'm sure he's okay, Babs.'

She stood in shock for a moment before quickly returning the embrace. Artemis was one of the few people who really got her. They were both independent, strong, feisty young women who were in some way defying their fathers, secretly or not. Both of their mothers had been taken from them when they were younger, in one way or another. And they'd both lost their favourite men, though Barbara still had the torture of constant worry and stress.

They pulled apart and Artemis set her hands on her friend's shoulders. 'Really, though, are you okay? _Really_ okay? You know you can tell me.'

'Yeah, yeah, I'm fine. Nothing I can't handle. Why do you ask?' she asked, suspicion written clearly in her eyes and tone.

'Pssh, 'cause I'm your best friend, that's why.'

Barbara crossed her arms. 'Okay, Kaldur also wanted to check that you're okay.'

She groaned. Could no one trust her to just do her own thing anymore? Everyone had become really paranoid over both young women, and it was really starting to dig under their skin.

'He's just worried about you, as is everyone else on the Team.'

Her anger was beginning to flare. 'Why? Cause I'm a _woman_?'

Artemis glared at her and crossed her arms. 'No, because you're a valued teammate and friend. Which you know. Babs, what's really going on?'

The Batman protégé looked up to her and sighed. 'Do you remember Jason?'

She smiled. 'Who could forget him?'

'I know that… it, happened years ago, but some things just aren't adding up…'

Artemis walked over to her friend, arms uncrossed. 'What? Have you got some new evidence or something?'

She pulled out her Bat-phone and brought up an app. 'See this? Bruce created it for himself when Dick first became Robin. He installed it for us a few months back to let us track each other. Bruce, me, Tim, Dick. Jason.'

'How does it track?' Artemis was incredibly confused. 'DNA? Utility belt?'

'No. When we all first joined Batman's crusade, we got injected with a microscopic tracker, in case we were ever abducted.'

Artemis felt like slapping her. 'That's just… stellar, but Babs, _why on Earth haven't you used it to find Dick?!'_

She scoffed. 'He remotely disabled his when he and Bruce had their falling-out. Anyway, the other day, I accidently pressed on Jason's location.'

She pressed it. 'He's not in Gotham Cemetery. He's in Nanda Parbat.'

Both girls made eye-contact. 'Where the hell is that?'

'Middle East somewhere,' Babs said as she turned her attention back to the blinking dot on her screen. 'Batman used to go there to 'talk' to Ra's Al Ghul's daughter, Talia. It's basically the palace for the League of Assassins.'

'Oh my god… I could ask Jade if she knows anything about it, if you want…'

'No', she said bluntly. 'I don't want to involve anyone else in this. It could just be the microchip acting up after having gone through a beat-up and an explosion.'

'… Okay. Well, to take you mind off things, wanna go beat up some thugs?'

She smirked. 'Gladly.'

Artemis smiled. 'Good. By the way, wasn't sure if I'd already told you, but you look so fresh with your new suit. The colour look good. I've been thinking about changing my look a bit, too. How do you think I'd look with a bob?'

Barbara laughed and stared down at her outfit. The suit itself had become darker, almost black. The basic shape of it remained the same, but the inside of her cape was now bright yellow, similar to Tim's Robin suit. The same shade of yellow had transferred into her elbow-length gloves and knee-high boots. The boots also had knee-pads in the shape of bats, similar to the yellow one of her chest. Who ever said you couldn't look good and fight crime at the same time?

The two girls kept talking as they walked toward the building ledge and leapt off, smiles clear on their masked faces. Crime in Gotham wouldn't reign supreme that night.

 **THE WATCHTOWER**

 **July 5, 01:27 EDT**

 **1 YEAR LATER**

'Give it up, Jaime. You don't stand a chance against the fastest boy alive.'

'No way, _hermano._ Scarab says 'the Kid Flash's chances of success are appearing to slim, odds currently resting at 36%'. In other words, you're dead.'

'Uh, you guys are _both_ dead. Literally. My dragon just eliminated your knight and your… tree?'

Bart threw the controller down in frustration. 'Why am I always the stinkin' tree, and why do I always stinkin' lose? So not crash!'

Garfield chuckled while Jaime just rolled his eyes. 'Bruh, you're getting there. Chill down, amigo.'

'Feeling the mode right now…' Bart mumbled as he leaned back and looked away.

Garfield stretched and added a yawn. 'Well, I dunno bout you guys, but I'm feeling tired. And pretty hungry, to be honest. Who's up for a 1 AM milkshake and then bed?'

'Sounds like a plan', Jaime agreed, nudging a silent Bart.

'Yeah, sure. Whatever.'

The teenage boys flew and sprinted toward the Watchtower's cafeteria. With both the League and Team expanding at an alarming rate, having about 60 members in total, the senior members of both teams had thought it best to extend and upgrade their facilities. Running down a hallway with a window to one side, Jaime couldn't help but stare out at the big expanse of spaces, stars littering the sky like children's glitter on preschool artwork. It was amazing to think that just one year ago, the Reach had been retreating, the Green Lantern Corps hot on their tail. He remembered that liberating feeling as the ship disappeared from his vision, and how he'd never felt more free. He continued to stare out at the big, black space before him, and peace settled in.

Suddenly, his scarab started tingling on his back, and he listened in for a message.

 _Jaime Reyes, look outward to 10 o'clock. Alert the Kid Flash and Beast Boy._

Jaime stared out to the left and took in a sharp breath. Not again… 'Hey Kid, Garr! Come back here and look!'

His two friends came racing back to the gobsmacked 16-year-old's side. They stared out in horror as a small asteroid-like pod came hurdling towards Earth, turning red as it entered the atmosphere. They looked to each other, worry evident on the boys' faces.

'Scarab says it's heading straight for the Thames River. That's in London!'

Jaime transformed into Blue Beetle and looked to his friends. 'We need to alert the League.'

Bart raced to his side, placing a hand on his shoulder. 'Or, we could show some initiative and go check it out ourselves?'

Garfield raised his hand. 'I'm in.'

Blue Beetle flicked his gaze between his two younger amigos. This was crazy. They were some of the younger members of the Team. Going out on their own to tackle a crash-landed alien? It was insane. Yet no one else seemed to have recognized it, and considering the fact that Booster Gold was on monitor duty was a little worrying, as he was probably more focused on practicing his comeback lines than what was entering and exiting Earth.

He sighed and shook his head. 'I can't believe I'm agreeing to this… The second it gets out of hand, though, we contact Aqualad and the League, got it?'

Bart beamed, raced away, and came back almost immediately, dressed in his Kid Flash uniform. 'Got it. Let's just go already!'

 **LONDON**

 **July 5, 06:53 UTC**

 **1 YEAR LATER**

The three boys arrived within ten minutes. Walking out of the Zeta teleporter, which was a unisex toilet cubicle, Blue Beetle immediately let his scarab start searching. Being the oldest in the group, and most responsible, he took charge.

'Beast Boy, take to the sky and scout around for anything out of the ordinary. Kid Flash, check along the Thames for any signs of the… thing. Scarab and I are going to scan for anything non-terrestrial.'

Beast Boy nodded and turned into a seagull, flying out of the public bathroom. Kid Flash gave a small salute and then sped out soon after.

 _Okay, Scarab, what're we dealing with here? Was it just a meteor, or was it something else…?_

The scarab took a moment to respond, before saying, _Go outside, and my sensors will clear up._

Beetle did as he was told and made a swift exit. Standing outside of the toilet block, he got a few odd glances and some pictures taken as he raised his arm to let the scarab begin the scanning process.

 _I will share with you what I detect, Jaime. Here is a visual aid to allow you to see what my sensors pick up._

Immediately, Blue Beetle's vision blurred, before clearing again. It had a slight blue tint to it, with a single red spot in the sky.

 _Uh, Scarab?_

 _That is simply the Beast Boy_. _As his molecular structure compromises of some Martian DNA, he's seen as extra-terrestrial. As are you, Jaime. The Kid Flash, however, will be seen as blue, indicating he is human, as all of his DNA belongs to Earth's properties. May I suggest going to the river Thames to allow to scan the water?_

Blue Beetle promptly took to the sky and made his way over to the Thames. Everything was still blue, but as he neared the murky waters of the river, he saw a distorted red oval beneath the water's surface. The meteor.

Blue Beetle tapped his com-link. 'Beast Boy? I think I found it. I'll need you and Kid to come to my coordinates to help me out. Get here as soon as you can.'

'Gotcha, Blue.'

'Be there in a flash!'

Still hovering, the young hero glanced around to see a crowd forming. _Crap_. He lowered himself to the ground and raised up his hands, offering a genuine, reassuring smile.

'Folks, I might need to stand back a bit. It's okay, I'm Blue Beetle. I'm with the Justice League and their junior Team. Kid Flash, Beast Boy and I saw something heading this way, and we're just going to check it out. Just in case, whatever it is, isn't as friendly as us on Earth, I need you all to just keep out of danger for your own sakes and keep your kids away as well.' He said with the most calming tone possible.

A young boy stepped forward, fear seen clearly on his eyes. 'Is it the Reach? They really scared me when I saw their big rocket-ships. Have they come back?'

An older woman, whom Beetle assumed to be the boy's mom, stepped forward to grab her son. 'Darling, don't bother Blue Bug, he has to do some highly important hero things.'

He waved a dismissive hand and went to kneel in front of the boy. 'Nah, it's fine. What's your name, buddy?'

'Henry. Henry Greenwood. By the way, I know you're Blue _Beetle_ , not Bug.' The young boy murmured.

Blue Beetle offered a smile. 'Thanks, Henry. And don't worry. The Justice League made sure that they won't come back. And if they do, I promise, we will protect you. You don't need to be scared.'

Just then, Kid Flash raced onto the scene and Beast Boy came flying down from up above.

Kid waved and Beast Boy made a silly face at the young boy. All three teens smiled when he let out a little giggle. Blue Beetle stood up and joined his teammates.

The young speedster crossed his arms and furrowed his eyebrows. 'So, where's E.T?'

Beast Boy rolled his eyes, but Beetle just pointed toward the Thames. 'In there somewhere, at the bottom of the river.'

The half-Martian spoke up. 'So how do we get it out? What's the plan of attack?'

'KF is going to run a circle around the object, on top of the water, obviously. He'll create a funnel, dragging the water up, giving you and me an easy entrance. From there, Kid will continue running while you transform into something ridiculously strong and tall to lift it out of the water. We get it a safe distance away from civilians and then I use my scarab's tech to hack into the alien technology to… well, see what it is, I guess', Beetle said, rubbing his neck in doubt.

Both the younger teens nodded, and Kid smiled, saying, 'Good plan, capètain.'

With that, the boys got to their assigned roles. The police had come and secured a barrier in front of the crowd, who were now gazing on in awe. Kid Flash, after running for a few seconds, soon reached Mach 2, and a resounding _BOOM_ echoed through London. The water kept rising to his in-side, and he kept increasing in speed. Soon enough, there was a circular clearing at the river bed, showing a very alien-looking pod. Blue Beetle hovered over in wonder and watched as Beast Boy made his descent into the gunk beneath.

Beast Boy scrunched up his face in disgust, looking down at the mud before him. 'Oh, you so owe me, Blue.'

As the green boy reached the pod, he focused his mind on a creature they'd encountered on an off-world mission. Growing in size, he was soon took up as much space as an elephant, probably more. He looked like a mix between a dragon, pterodactyl, and a hawk, with great, large wings that protruded from his back. He rose up into the air and picked up the pod with his back claws. The crowd below him stepped back in shock and then proceeded to applauding. Beast Boy, in his hybrid form, winked down at the crowd before carrying it away from the city.

Kid Flash stopped running and came back onto land, gave a small wave, and then followed his winged friend. Beetle flew above the crowd and said a short 'goodbye and thanks officers' before following his team. Both he and KF followed Beast Boy's huge form to behind a large mountain, where there was a large enough clearing. After scanning the area in a 10 mile perimeter, he said that there weren't any people around and that it was safe to put the object down carefully. Beast Boy complied and slowly lowered the object, transformed into a cockatoo and flew down to rest on Kid's shoulder.

'Okay, Scarab, do your thing', Blue Beetle said as he pointed his open hand at the pod. After a few minutes of scanning, the scarab finally spoke up.

 _Object: recognised. Properties: partially known. Origin: known._

Blue Beetle listened in and communicated with his scarab telepathically, until he heard something and nearly choked on the water he'd been drinking. Spluttering all over the place, he squeaked, 'C-come again?'

Kid and Beast Boy looked at their friend incredulously, as he seemed to be taking in what the scarab was telling him.

Kid Flash raced to his side. 'Hey, easy there, buddy Blue. What's the scarab sayin'?'

He looked at his best friend with shock clear in his brown eyes. 'I-I know where the pod's from. And what it's got inside it.'

Beast Boy, who'd been flying beside him, transformed to his normal form and raised his eyebrows. 'Okay, so, spill!'

He paused. 'It's… Kryptonian.'

The teenagers shared a sceptical glance. Krypton had been destroyed nearly 40 Earth-years ago, just after Superman had been born. He was supposedly the only being and thing that escaped the doomed planet. The big, blue boy scout had been a mere baby when it had happened though, and even Kryptonians can't remember that far back.

Blue Beetle looked incredibly nervous. 'N-now we call in the League. Especially Supes. This is life-changing news for him.'

Kid suddenly realised something. 'Wait, you never told us what was inside it?'

Both 14-year-olds leaned in to their older friend, anxiously awaiting his answer. 'My scarab… it detected life. There's a person in there. Superman's _cousin_.'

 **TOKYO**

 **June 5, 12:41 JTZ**

 **1 YEAR LATER**

Dick hated it. He'd been undercover for nearly three months, with no communication with the outside world. He hadn't talked to anyone from the Team or League in way too long, including Barbara and Tim, and it was killing him. But it was necessary.

He was hunched over one of the diner's tables, slurping away at his _Pokari Sweat_ through a straw. As grown men do. His tinted glasses hid his wandering eyes from other people walking past. He was looking out for one particular person in Tokyo's massive crowds. He continued scanning, and let his mind wander as he did.

He never should've left. He should've just hidden away in his 'Nightwing Cave' for a few weeks, sulked a bit there. But no, he had to play hero and put on a brave face. He'd been kicking himself senseless over it the past few weeks. That incident all those months ago, though, it had changed his life forever. After he'd seen the thug tied up in an odd matter, however, he couldn't get the image of the hooded figure slowly walking away out of his mind. Although, they looked more like they were _drifting_ or even _levitating_ away.

He'd been obsessed with finding them ever since. But he knew that if there were some properties in it that even he didn't understand, he should keep his loved ones at a safe distance. Which meant to talking to his little brother, Tim, or his lifetime bestfriend, Babs. He had to shut them out.

Just then, he spotted them. They were moving swiftly through the crowd, and when they glanced behind themselves, Dick saw a pale, feministic face, hidden by the cloak. He abruptly got up, left the money for the meal on the table and ran out of the Japanese diner. Glancing around, eyebrows furrowed, he located the shadowy figure again.

Running after them, or her, he saw her round a corner into a small alley. Following swiftly, he came to an abrupt halt and stood behind her as she just stood there.

He raised a cautious hand. She was short and slim, appearing to be no more than 15. 'Hey, I'm not gonna hurt you. I just wanna talk, I promise.'

She didn't move except for a slow turn of her head so he saw the left side of her jaw. She merely smiled, before vanishing into thin air. Dick ran to the spot where she'd just been. _Definitely a ten on the spooky scale._ Glancing every which way, he finally looked up to see a dark bird flying off into the sky. A raven.

 **OMG, this chapter was so much fun to write :D**

 **Hope you guys enjoyed it, and hope I didn't leave you on too many cliff-hangers…? I'm going to update as often as I can, but once school goes back (STRAYAAA! so still on 'summer break') I will try updating once a week** **:)**

 **Much love xx**

 **~SpitfireWestAllen15**


	3. Chapter 2: New Worlds

**AUTHOR'S NOTE: Heyo :)**

 **Chapter 2 is here! Yay! Thank you so much for the follows, favourites and reviews guys! I don't really have much to say about this one, as I don't like spoilers... (Sorry Bart)**

 **Actually, I do have one thing to say... ENJOY!**

* * *

 **CHAPTER 2: New Worlds**

 **THE WATCHTOWER**

 **July 11, 09:51 EDT**

Silence had filled Garfield's room for longer than it should've. He, Jaime and Bart had been lounging about, unsure of what they should say of if they should even say anything at all. Jaime had his earphones plugged in and was bobbing his head along to MKTO's _Bad Girls_. Garfield was staring at his hand and watching it as it transformed into different animal limbs, and Bart was whistling an indistinguishable song and patting his thighs, all at superspeed.

They'd left the Kryptonian pod at the clearing outside of London, as they still hadn't told anyone else and hadn't been sure what to do with it either. Jaime had been pondering over it for nearly a week, the alien technology consuming almost every thought. He still couldn't get over the fact that if his scarab was correct, and it almost always was, then Superman _wasn't_ the last surviving Kryptonian. AlL these years he'd thought he'd been completely alone… The Hispanic still couldn't believe the chances that not only did another Kryptonian crash-land on Earth, but the two last survivors of the extinct race were _cousins_.

What were the chances? Then realisation hit him like a train. What if the pod's destination hadn't been a coincident? Perhaps both of Superman's parents and aunt and uncle had wanted to save their children. Worked together to send them away from the doomed planet. Perhaps it had been done so that they could look after one another?

He took out his buds and stood up. 'Okay, we need to do something. We can't just _not_ talk about this.'

Both his friends stopped what they were doing and stared up at him. 'Uhh, about what?'

'You know what', he sighed in exasperation at his best friend.

Garfield spoke up. 'So what _are_ we going to do? What if Supes' cuz goes nuts when he release him?'

'Then we call in the League', Jaime said simply.

'That's what you said last time', Bart snorted.

'I know what I said!' He sighed. 'I just… I dunno. We just have to go in with a cool head, and I reckon we should try to crack open the pod.'

The teens felt stressed about the whole situation, but each of them also felt compelled to help the alien. After all, they'd been drifting around in space for nearly forty years!

Slowly, all three boys agreed to the idea that they'd try to help the Kryptonian. It was only fair.

 **LONDON**

 **July 11, 16:25 UTC**

Arriving into the clearing, all of them stared at the pod in apprehension. What would they uncover? There was only one way to find out.

With a shaky breath, Blue Beetle managed to say, 'I'll, uh, let my scarab take control of the pod. See if we can get it to open without force. If not, we switch to trying to pry the thing open with brute strength.'

'Sounds good to me', Beast Boy said, flicking his gaze to the spacecraft.

Taking a few shy steps toward it, Blue Beetle let his 'inner demon' come to life and discover the dark secrets beneath the jagged surface of the Kryptonian ship.

 _Okay, scarab, do your thing. See if you can get this pod-thing open. Oh, um, please._

The scarab complied and two wire tendrils emerged from his arm, connecting to the ship. It was silent for a good thirty seconds before Beetle finally saw a response from the pod, as it srpund to life and lit up, making a soft whirring sound.

 _Do not fret, Jaime Reyes. I have simply made contact with the Kryptonian vessel and am currently unlocking it from within. It is stable, and shows no desire to attack or react in a harmful way._

 _Thanks, amigo. Try to get to open as soon as possible._

Letting the scarab continue its work, Beetle turned to his friends. 'Scarab says it's stable, don't worry. Should have this nutshell cracked in just a few.'

'Honestly, Blue, what would you we do without your scarab?' Kid Flash smiled and shook his head.

He grinned back. 'I reckon we'd definitely be feeling the mode.'

Beast Boy came up to the pod and inspected it over. It was all insane; he still couldn't believe that the League hadn't found out about it yet. He wondered about the inhabitant inside. How long had they been drifting through the empty expanse of space? He felt incredibly sympathetic towards them, this whole time they thought they'd been alone in the universe. The repressed memory of his mom's overturned car at the foot of the waterfall flashed across his mind, and he cringed. He knew a thing or two about feeling alone. In that moment, he swore that he'd do everything in his power to help the only other surviving Kryptonian.

Beetle's orange eyes suddenly widened, and he looked to his friends in apprehension. 'Scarab's got it. It's going to open now.'

All three of them stepped back and watched at the oval-shaped pod let out a hiss, followed by some fog-like mist drifting out from the now appeared crack. A loud _pop_ echoed from the clearing at the lid slowly started to open. After it came to rest at an angle and the smoke cleared, the boys made their advance, Jaime leading the charge. Glancing inside, all three boy's eyes' widened.

'Crash', Kid Flash murmured as he stared at the person inside.

A young girl, a teenager, lay inside, eyes closed, apparently asleep. A small white, linen tunic covered her. She had fair, clear skin with gorgeous, sweeping blond hair. Her pink lips were closed in a small smile, twitching here and there, apparently dreaming of something wonderful.

Beetle spoke to his friends without turning away from the sleeping girl. 'Should-should we wake her?'

Silence.

'Guys, say something.'

'I did', Kid whispered, shock still displayed on his frozen face. 'I said 'crash'.'

Beast Boy suddenly jolted back as a wave of questions started turning in his mind. 'How is she still alive? Why is she only a teen, when she should be at _least_ as old as Superman? How… why… what the hell?!'

Both other teens glared at the green boy, urging him to stay quiet. 'Shut up, Gar.'

Looking back to the girl, they all gasped and stepped back in shock to see her eyes were open, and she was sitting up. Kid Flash looked to his friend's, worry evident in his bright green eyes. Now fully upright, the girl looked between them, and said some words that none of them understood. They just looked between each other, and a small frown came onto her face as tears started forming in her eyes.

'Yo, Blue, get Scarab to translate. Kryptonian', Kid nudged his friend.

He shrugged his shoulders. 'I'm not sure my scarab even knows Kryptonian, _hermano_ , but I'll give it a shot.'

 _Scarab, can you translate what she just said, and let me speak to her?_

 _Of course, Jaime Reyes. Just a moment._

After a brief moment, Beetle felt a subtle change in his vocal cords and mouth, and suddenly, he knew Kryptonian fluently. He walked up to the girl's right side of the pod, a smile on his lips.

 _'Hi, my name's Blue Beetle. My friends and I mean you no harm. Do you know what planet you are on?'_ he felt his tongue and mouth make out the shapes in his mouth as he thought it.

 _'R-roughly. I know that my destination was Earth, but my pod got knocked off course after Krypton…'_ she replied as tears formed in her eyes.

 _'I can't even begin to imagine what you've been through, but I know what happened. Your home world, Krypton, was destroyed. And do not worry, you have made it to Earth. As has another of your race. We know him personally.'_

Recognition flickered in her ice blue eyes. _'Kal-El? He made it?! Oh, thank the House of El.'_

Beetle was confused. _'Wait, you know him too? As in, you actually_ know _him? What is your name? Can you tell me what you remember?'_

He knew it was a lot of questions, but the girl seemed happy to just be talking to another living being. _'Yes, he is my infant cousin. I remember my Uncle Jor-El discussing with my mother, Alura, about the transporting of my cousin and me away from our dying planet. I was sent after Kal to look after him on Earth, and we would help one another adjust to our new home. I was sent off too late, however, and my pod got caught in the explosive wave of Krypton. I remember drifting for what seemed a few moments before coming toward the Solar System, and a few short moments later, I was crash-landed on Earth. Oh, and you asked of my name. My name is Kara Zor-El.'_

Holy crap. Blue Beetle had to take a moment to process all that she'd told him. If what this girl, Kara, said was true, then they had a lot to explain to Superman. Even Batman would have to be sitting down to hear this news. Superman was the last son of Krypton, sure, but not the last child. He boggled over the fact that she was technically older than the Man of Steel, yet everything suggested she was still just a kid. He remembered back to when Hal Jordan, one of the Green Lanterns, had been telling them about an off-world mission they'd had where they'd encountered an expanse of space called 'the Phantom Zone'. He'd told them how no time passed in there. Perhaps Kara had been drifting through the Phantom Zone for the majority of her long journey to Earth.

He turned back to the silent girl. _'Excuse me a few moments while I talk with my friends. Thank you for sharing this information.'_

Both KF and BB were looking at him expectantly, yet Beast Boy was the one to speak up. 'Hey, what'd she tell you?'

'Prepare for a storm…' he scoffed and shook his head. 'I'll just give you guys a summary. Her name's Kara Zor-El, and, as we found out last week, she's Supes' cousin. Though, she's supposedly older than him. Apparently, she was sent after him to protect him and keep him safe once they got here. I reckon she got knocked off course and went into the Phantom Zone for a bit though, 'cause she's only like 16 or something. I'm gonna let that sit in your heads a bit and help Kara out of the pod. She's probably starving as well.'

After being shocked momentarily, Kid raised his hand and said, 'I'll go get her something. Gotta run, but I'll be back in a flash.'

'Bruh, wait just a- and he's gone', Beetle sighed as Beast Boy shook his head.

Turning back to Kara, he went into Krypton mode again. _'My friend has gone to get you some food. Would you like some assistance in getting out of your pod?'_

Kara shook her head politely. _'Thank you, but I think I will be alright. Also, I can try speaking your native tongue as well, if that is okay with you.'_

She shakily got out of the pod and made her way over to a sceptical Beast Boy, holding her hand out in greeting. 'Hello, I am Kara Zor-El. Nice to meet you.'

Beast Boy shook her hand, his mouth open in pure shock. 'Uh, nice to meet you, Kara. I'm, um, Beast- I mean, Garfield. Garfield Logan.'

She giggled as she watched the gaping boys' mouths opening and closing like fish. 'You will find that Kryptonians are very quick learners.'

Just then, Kid came racing back with a two sandwiches in his hands, one partially eaten. 'I was getting kinda hungry too, so I thought I'd get one for- Holy chicken whizees, she's up!'

'And this guy is Kid Flash, but you can call him Bart Allen', Beetle introduced, resting his hand on his speedy friend's shoulder.

'Dude, not to crash the mode, but I don't think she can understand us', he whispered, leaning into his friend.

'Actually, as I just was just saying to Garfield and Blue Beetle, Kryptonians learn to adapt very quickly. That includes atmospheric conditions and languages. My gratitude is expressed for the food, Bart Allen', she said as she carefully took the sandwich out of his hands.

He raised an eyebrow at Blue Beetle, who just shrugged his shoulders. 'No, this won't do. We must teach her the ways of XBox and the glory of Chicken Whizees. You know, before the girls get to her and turn her all… girly.'

They fist-bumped, and Beast Boy came up to his friends, an evil smile plastered on his face. 'Agreed. Lol.'

Beetle turned back to Kara. 'You must have a ton of questions. Feel free to ask and we'll explain as best as we can.'

She quirked an eyebrow. 'Well, I am not certain about a 'ton', but yes, I do want to know about some things. For example, are all life-forms on Earth so… unique? Not that there is a problem with how any of you look, I am just curious.'

KF sped to her side and took off his cowl, revealing his grinning face as he leaned on her shoulder. 'Nah, most of them look like you and me, and can't do zilch out of the ordinary. Jaime, or Blue Beetle, over there, he's a normal person as well, believe it or not. Show her, buddy Blue.'

Kara stepped back in shock as Jaime let go of his Blue Beetle costume and let it melt back into his scarab, revealing a normal 16-year-old boy wearing a hoodie and jeans, and a wink.

'It's just a little blue bug on his back that attached itself to him a couple of years ago. Without it, he's a normal human being. Our green friend over there was born on Earth as well, and was human for most of his life, but he had a blood-transfusion, kindly donated by one of our Martian friends, and now he's not so human. I look pretty normal, myself, but I'm actually a speedster. From the future. Totally crash, I know. Basically, I can just run really fast, like my Uncle Barry and my Cousin… anyway, we're all a part of a team of young heroes, and most of us are very unique. Hope that answered that', he said as he raced back to his friends.

She nodded her head in understanding. 'Thank you, Bart. My next question is about the sun. My mother told me you have a yellow sun. Is that correct?'

Garfield took his turn at answering the little Q&A. 'Yep, we have a yellow sun. I think I remember reading somewhere about Krypton having a red sun… So basically, the yellow sun gives you powers. Assuming you're like Supes, you can fly, have super strength, super speed, can breathe out ice, you're bullet-proof and basically everything-proof, except to Kryptonite, which we'll tell you about later. And my personal favourite, _laser eyes_! I mean, that's pretty cool. So you're practically invincible.'

'Thank you, Garfield. That certainly sounds… cool', she said, trying out the slang in her mouth. 'My final question, for now, is about my cousin. You said you know him personally. Have you been caring for him? How long has he been here?'

This was the question Jaime had been dreading. This one would probably do some damage, and of course his friends had been gracious enough to let him answer it. _Thanks so much, amigos_ , he cursed to himself.

'This one might be hard to register. We haven't been caring for him. If anything, he's been caring for _us_. He's one of the senior members of that team we were telling you about before, and probably the most recognised saviour of our planet. And… he's nearly forty Earth years old. He's been here nearly forty of our years.'

Her eyes widened at the news. Her shoulders tensed and her mouth opened a little. _'He's been here nearly forty of our years.'_ She'd failed the one thing her family had asked her to do when she'd been getting in that pod. She'd missed taking care of her precious cousin, her cousin whose little blue eyes looked lovingly up at her as black tufts of hair fell across his forehead. Who knew what troubles he'd faced alone in this world, no one to turn to without his big cousin looking after him? Tears brimmed in her eyes as she realised she'd failed her family.

'I'm so sorry I wasn't there for you, precious Kal', she whispered as a single, lonely tear slid down her cheek.

The boys walked up to her and tried comforting her, Beast Boy laying a comforting hand on her shoulder. 'It's okay, there was nothing you could've done. Super- Kal is fine, he's more than fine. And I'm sure he'll be nothing but happy to see you once you meet him.'

Kara sniffed and wiped her nose. 'You mean you will introduce us?'

Bart felt tears forming in his own eyes, and gave her a one-sided smile. 'Of course we will.'

She grinned and brought all three of them into a literal bone-crushing hug. Realising they were all wincing, she dropped them immediately.

'Oh, my deepest apologies. I guess I don't quite know my own strength.'

Jaime loosened his shoulder up and chuckled. 'Literally. And it's fine. Do you wanna head back to our headquarters now?'

She nodded and then furrowed her eyebrows. 'But how will I get there? I cannot yet trust myself to attempt flying or running quickly.'

Beast Boy waved a dismissive hand. 'No problem, I'll give you a lift.'

She looked confused until she saw him take on the form of hawk. 'But how..?'

'Shapeshifting, it's pretty radical', he said simply. 'You will need to help me out a little bit as these things are strong, but not that strong.'

'Oh, okay. Thank you, Garfield.'

He lifted off the ground and gripped onto the strong cloth covering Kara, pulling her off the ground. She squeezed her eyes shut as she focused on the creature that Garfield had just become, and thought about its beating wings, pushing itself into the clouds above. Surely enough, when she looked down, she saw that she was being easily kept above the grass beneath them. She let out a cry of satisfaction.

'Awesome job, Kara. Make sure you don't do any more than that, and we'll be fine', the hawk above her instructed as he took her above the trees.

'Meet you guys at the Zeta tube!' Bart called as he pulled his cowl back on and raced off into the heart of the city before them.

Kara looked to her left and saw Blue Beetle give her thumbs up before flying off. A feeling of excitement and terror rolled around in her stomach. She'd been dreaming of this moment for a while; would it be everything she ever imagined, or worse? She was about to find out.

 **THE WATCHTOWER**

 **July 11, 10:43 EDT**

 _'Recognised: Kid Flash B23. Blue Beetle B22. Beast Boy B19.'_

As the three of them walked in, Blue Beetle swore under his breath as he realised that Aquaman was right in the middle of the room, telling off Booster Gold about monitor duty. So much for an easy, undramatic entrance for Kara.

They'd asked her to wait calmly in the booth as they registered her into the system. He leaned into Kid and Beast Boy and whispered, 'Gimme the best distraction you have while I get Kara in.'

They nodded and then went sprinting to the two older heroes, Beast Boy yelling at the top of his lungs, 'Aquaman! Booster! You guys have to come try the milkshake we made before. I swear, it's better than anything you've ever tasted.'

The heroes didn't really have much of a choice as the teens dragged them out of the room. _Good_ , thought Jaime, _now I've just gotta hope that no one else comes in._

He pressed a few buttons and after a few seconds, the machine said, ' _Access: granted. Kara Zor-El A05. Authorization: Blue Beetle B22.'_

The Zeta Tube came to life and out stepped a very confused looking Kara. She raised an eyebrow at Blue Beetle and let out a yelp as he promptly picked her up and carried her straight toward his designated room, where he'd told Beast Boy and Kid Flash to meet him. He flew as quickly as he could through the many halls, trying to diminish the chances of League or Team members seeing them.

Reaching his room, he gently put her down and slammed the door shut. Turning around, he leaned against the door and let out a sigh as he slid down to a crouch. They'd done it. He let out a breathless laugh as he put his head in his hands. They'd done it. They'd actually managed to sneak Kara into the freaking Watchtower without anyone else knowing it. He beamed across at Kara who smiled modestly back at him. He sighed as he let go of his Blue Beetle persona.

'Oh, I am never doing that ever again. That was more stressful than trying to take down the Reach', he said, dragging a hand down his face.

She raised an eyebrow at him. 'What do we do now? Wait for Garfield and Bart to come back?'

'Uh, yeah, and then I guess we figure out how to introduce you to everyone else. It's not like we can just walk out there with you and say 'oh yeah, Superman, this is your cousin from Krypton, by the way. Turns out you and Superboy aren't the only Kryptonians.' We'll definitely take you to meet those two first, of course', he said plainly.

'So, Superman is my cousin, Kal-El, correct? But who is this Super… boy?'

 _Oh, this is gonna be fun to explain._ 'Um, Superman was cloned a few years back, without his consent though. Superboy, or Kon-El, was designed to be a weapon, but the founders of our team, Robin, Aqualad, and the original Kid Flash freed him. And he's been fighting the bad guys ever since. So, I guess he's kinda like your cousin, too.'

She blinked. 'Oh, okay', she muttered than smirked. 'Any other Kryptonian family members I should know about?'

'Nope, that's the sum total. Well, at least I think', Jaime chuckled.

In that second, Beast Boy and Kid Flash came running back in, slamming the door behind them before bursting into fits of laughter. They appeared to be trying to say something to one another, but the words got lost within their amusement. Jaime and Kara looked at each other with confused faces before looking back to the hysterical 14-year-old boys.

Bart quickly changed into the civilian clothes he'd left in Jaime's room and proceeded to rolling around on the floor. 'D-did you see Booster's f-face? Crashed _all_ future modes!'

'A-and Aquaman's reaction t-to the flavour? Priceless!' Garfield choked out as he wiped his eyes.

They then turned to their older friends to see their confused expressions.

Bart shrugged. 'You had to be there. So, Kara, welcome to a teenage boy's room. Pretty sweet, huh?'

Jaime cringed as she held her nose. ''Sweet' does not begin to describe it.'

The boys chuckled, before Garfield suddenly furrowed his eyebrows. 'So… what now? It's not like we can lock you up in Jaime's awesome room forever, as great as that sounds.'

'Yeah, well, I was thinking that one of us could stay here with Kara while the other two could go get both Supeys. They deserve to know before everyone else. Once they know, then we leave it up for them to decide how to introduce Kara to the League and Team', Jaime suggested.

Kara crossed her arms. 'Do I get a say in the matter? After all, it is _me_ you are talking about.'

'Uh, right', Jaime said. 'We just thought that, you know, you'd wanna just… chill for a while. You know, not have to worry about this stuff.'

She sighed. 'Yes, I guess that does make sense. So who will go get my cousin and his clone?'

Bart shot his finger up to nose, grinning as he did. 'Shot not!'

Jaime and Garfield glanced to each other with pained expressions. How was this going to go down? The speedster looked to his friends and gave a cheeky wave. They then hesitantly got up and slugged out of the room. Bart giggled before turning to the poker-faced Kryptonian. _Oh shit._

He reached a nervous hand up to his neck. 'So… Kara, thoughts on Earth so far?'

'As in, what do I think of my new planet?' She paused, tapping her finger against her lips. 'Well, the inhabitants are certainly _interesting_ , but you are as welcoming and compassionate as my race back on Krypton. Perhaps even more so. But, humans seem quite… rash. 'Shoot first, think later' attitude. On Krypton, that kind of behaviour was deeply discouraged.'

Bart winced, but raised an eyebrow when he saw she was smiling. 'I was often in trouble for behaving that way. My mother used to say that my heart was ruling, not my head. I personally like the way humans think, act and are. In my 16 years, I have never met anyone who cared for a stranger more than you, Jaime and Garfield. Thank you.'

He gaped. Bart had not been expecting that answer. He smiled back at the pretty teenager. Figuring out his next move, he sat down beside Kara and scooted next to her.

'So… tell me 'bout Krypton…'

* * *

'So, um, yeah. That… uh, is basically what happened… Superman?'

Jaime glanced up cautiously at the still Kryptonian. For once, Conner had been more active than the friendly hero. Jaime wondered what was going through his mind…

A cousin. He had a cousin, family from Krypton. He couldn't believe it. No, he really couldn't believe it. He quietly asked the young boys where she was, if 'she' was even there. They pointed to the directions of Jaime's room, and Superman flew out of there, Superboy hot on his tail. If what the boys were saying was true, then he wasn't alone. Conner had been great over the years, the closest to family he'd ever gotten to apart from his Ma and Pa, but this… this was his _real_ family.

 _Don't get your hopes up, Clark_ , he told himself. _They could be confused, as could the girl._

But what if she wasn't?

* * *

Kara was laughing. For the first time in… well, years. Bart really understood her. Not just because he was from a time and place of better, more advanced technology and ways of life, but because he too knew what it was like to see your family disappear before your eyes, knowing there was nothing you could do to save them. She smiled across at the brown-haired teenager, giggling away like a gossiping schoolgirl. Smiling, she realised that somethings never changed, no matter where in the universe you were.

Just then, the door flew open, revealing a tall, muscular man at the door. Kara, momentarily blinded from the new light, squinted to see that he was wearing red boots with a blue costume. A crimson cape laid against his toned body, and she could swear she saw something incredibly familiar.

A deep voice came from the man. 'Bart, is this…?'

Looking over to her new friend, Kara saw that he was suddenly somewhat timid. 'Uh, yeah Supes. I mean Superman. This is her.'

The looming figure suddenly let his shoulders dropped, and then made his way over the Kara to crouch beside her. She leaned back hesitantly, but forced herself to lean forward again once she saw the tears pooling in the man's blue eyes. Blue eyes. They were uncannily familiar…

'Hi. My name is Su- uh, Kal-El. What's yours?' he asked with a friendly smile.

'I-I am Kara Zor-El', she breathed back, her eyes widening in shock as she reached out to touch his famous symbol. 'Kal… you, you're wearing the coat of arms for the House of El. It means-'

'Hope..' he whispered, a single tear rolling down his cheek.

Conner had come into the room, and stood in shock as he stared upon his father figure looking into the eyes of a young girl. He knew in that moment. Jaime and Gar had been telling the truth, that this young girl was Clark's cousin.

Kara suddenly pulled the older man into a tight embrace, tears rushing down her face. 'Kal, I-I'm so sorry I wasn't there for you. I've shamed our family, I've let you down. I wasn't there to reassure you of your abilities when you were young, scared and confused. I cannot live with myself knowing that you had to go it alone, wondering why you were the way you were. I… please. Forgive me…'

Superman froze in shock at the sudden contact, but quickly gripped the young girl tightly as sobs racked her body. 'Hey, it's alright, Kara. You didn't let me down. In fact, I've never been more relieved and happy in my life to know that all this time, I've had family. And to finally be with family… Kara, I've never felt more alive. Did anyone else…?'

She shook her head against his neck. 'No, I'm sorry. I saw. Krypton exploded before anyone else could escape. We are the sum total of the Kryptonian race.'

He clutched her a little tighter before letting go to look into her eyes. 'Not entirely.'

Conner stepped out of his place and came to sit beside the two full-Kryptonians. 'This is Kon-El. He is-'

'Your clone. Those three told me', she said monotonously, pointing to the sheepish teens above them.

Superman chuckled as he laid a hand on Conner's shoulder. 'Well, if you get technical. But Kon-El has grown to be more or less like my son. Or little brother. The line becomes blurred after some time.'

Kara blinked. 'Oh. Sorry for my assumption, then. It is nice to meet you, Kon', she said as she turned to hug the tensed clone.

He managed a small smile. 'Please, everyone calls me Conner. Oh, and nice to meet you too, Kara.'

She let go of him and flicked her gaze between both 'Supers' before bringing them into a bit of a group hug. 'Oh, I just can't believe that after all this time… Even though, in my perspective, about one week has passed since I helped place you into your pod.'

Conner smirked across at Superman as he blushed. They returned the hug, and all three Kryptonians were soon in a cocoon of affection. Bart nodded at Garfield and Jaime, and they made a swift exit out of the room, quietly shutting the door behind them. They high-fived, feeling more than satisfied, and headed toward the Zeta Tube. Just another day in the life…

 **TOKYO**

 **July 11, 22:52 JTZ**

Dick stared up at the ceiling. It had all gotten out of hand, all of it. More than anything, he wanted to go back to Gotham, patch things up properly with Bruce, give Tim the biggest hug and reassure him that he wasn't going anywhere. Hold Babs close and tell her he didn't care if 'he wasn't ready for her', he would never leave her side again. He sighed. But he was in too deep. Way too deep to pull out now.

He rolled over on his bed and stared at his phone. It was right there, his ticket out of there. All he had to do was pick it up, turn it on, and text someone back on the League or Team and say 'hey, how's life? Oh and by the way, I'm not dead.'

It'd be so easy, but his mind replayed a message that Bruce had verbally beat into him.

 _It's not about doing the easy thing, Dick. It's about doing the right thing._

Screw the Dark Knight and his 'justice' code. Dick sat himself up and pinched the bridge of his nose. The crazy bat was right, though. He had to do what was right, even if it was incredibly hard. Getting up, he made his way over to the punching bag he'd bought for his cheap, crummy, temporary apartment. He grunted as he delivered a flying kick to the side of the already beaten bag. Beating the shit out of things was usually how he coped.

After throwing uppercuts, roundhouses, and all the sorts at the bag, the sweating 20-year-old leaned against it, breath coming out thick. He closed his eyes, and focused his mind on the raven-girl he'd seen the past few weeks. Since that day at the diner, he'd only seen her one more time. She'd been using some sort of dark magic, and muttered some chants whenever she 'cast a spell', if that was what she was even doing. She clearly had a strong affinity for the mystic arts, and despite being so young, could probably go head-to-head with Klarion. Still with closed eyes, a different figure came into his head. Her flowing auburn hair, her cobalt blue eyes, her crimson lips. He scoffed. Barbara Gordon, Babs G. She'd kill him, he already knew that, but he swore that the next time he saw her, he didn't care who or what was around, he was making sure she knew that she was the only girl for him, and there'd never be another.

Hearing the wind blowing suddenly, Dick swung around and whipped out his nunchucks. And then he realised who was at his window. Standing at the entrance of the window was the raven-girl herself, clothed completely in her dark indigo cloak. He dropped his nunchucks to the ground and crossed his arms.

'So', he smirked, 'You finally decide to willingly show yourself, and it's in my apartment. How whelming.'

She looked up and Dick saw her small pale face, and for the first time, her… _purple_ eyes.

'Excuse the intrusion, but I've seen how you've been tracking me for the past three months. You're persistent', she said monotonously.

He shrugged. 'Yeah, it's a part of my charm. And I track things that fascinate me. Like someone who has as much mystic power as Klarion the witch-boy.'

Her eyes shadowed over momentarily. 'So, you know Klarion… And I'm guessing you also know that he's more than a troubled kid, Nightwing.'

He stiffened. 'Yeah, I know who you are. Don't act surprised, I know more than that, Dick Grayson, adopted son of Bruce Wayne, who is also the infamous Batman.'

He bat-glared her, yet she seemed completely unaffected, if anything, amused. Who was this kid?

'Okay, you seem to know _plenty_ about me and both my lives. Tell me a bit about you', he ordered as he walked over.

The girl sighed. 'Well, I guess it's only fair. My name is Rachel Roth, I'm the equivalent age of a 15-year-old Earth girl, and I have come to Earth to warn you about what's coming. Though my mother is human, my father is the dark lord, Trigon, ruler of the pacifistic reality called Azarath. I've found out that my demonic father has decided to 'team-up' with a dark force, one who could destroy Earth in a heart-beat.'

Dick was slightly fazed, but mostly remained calm. 'Okay, Rachel. Who is this 'dark force'?'

Rachel shook her head. 'I'm afraid I don't know, but I sense that it _is_ coming, and from what I've seen so far Earth, you're all incredibly unprepared, and would be wiped out if this force arrived now.'

'Wow, way to be optimistic…' he joked.

She scoffed. 'If you too were raised on Azarath, you'd understand my pessimism.'

'Anyway, I have managed to summon a being who might be able to assist in the protection of Earth', she said with a knowing smile as she lifted up her arms. ' _Azarath Mentrion Zinthos!'_

Dick shielded his eyes as a bright light appeared growing in size before completely diminishing. Glaring through the light, he took a step back when he saw a feminine figure hovering above the ground. He noticed a revealing, purple outfit that showed orange-tinted skin underneath. Billowing red hair surrounded her frame and glowing green eyes were gazing down on him. Stepping back as she came down onto the ground, Dick watched as Rachel took a step toward the tall girl.

Standing beside her, Rachel encouraged Dick forward to meet the mystery woman. 'Dick Grayson of Earth, also known as Nightwing…'

Rachel looked on as the two older people smiled at one another. 'Meet Koriand'r of Tamaran, also known as Starfire.'

 **Hehehehe :3 Dick got himself two hot red-heads now… who's he gonna pick?**

 **That took a while. Sorry if I focused too much on Kara's introduction, but I kinda just wanted to get that out of the way so I can continue on the rest of the storyline** **:) next chapter will look back to Babs, Arty, Bat-fam, Wonder-fam possibly, and a lil romantics ;)  
**

 **Let me know what you guys thought of that chapter by leaving a review, show me that you want it to keep going by following, and show me that you loved it by favouriting. That's not a word, but deal with me**

 **Much love xx**

 **~SpitfireWestAllen15**


	4. Chapter 3: Sparring Partner

**AUTHOR'S NOTE: Heyoooo! Hope you all had a fab weekend :)**

 **Really sorry I didn't post sooner. My horse went to hospital after severing an artery, and he had to go into surgery :,( so I've been a tad... distracted lately. Good thing is he's on the mend, but he can't be worked for another 6 months. Goodbye National Championships :(**

 **Well, I'm now back at school (bring it, grade 10!) so now things are getting a little bit more nitty gritty. I will aim to post at least one chapter per week, but I can't make any promises.**

 **So this chapter has a lil more ACTION in it... even though, as the title suggests, most of it is just sparring. But who doesn't love a good spar ;)**

 **Without further ado, CHAPTER 3!**

* * *

 **CHAPTER 3: Sparring Partner**

 **TOKYO**

 **July 19, 08:23 JTZ**

Dick grunted as Kori threw yet another punch into his abdomen. The two of them had been sparring for a solid 30 minutes, and sweat was flowing from both young people. Rachel had told them that if they were all going to be working together, they needed to know that they didn't need to play 'babysitter' for the others.

He looked up at the Tamaranian from his hunched position and smirked. This went unnoticed, until she prepared to attack him again and he surprised her by dropping to his knees and kicking her legs out from underneath.

'Ooph, good move, Richard', she breathed, slightly winded.

He smiled down at her, offering his hand. She gladly took it, surprised at the strength of the human compared to her own.

'Thank you', she smiled sweetly, and giggled when she saw him blush.

He coughed and a shy hand pushed back his black mop of hair. 'Uh, no problem. And like I said, call me Dick. Richard's too… not me, too formal. 'Dick' is more true to who I am.'

She just blinked and smiled at him. 'Oh, right, you're still new to Earth. You don't get our jokes and language yet.'

'I do, actually. I know your language fluently', she said defensively.

'Right, right!' he squeaked. 'It's just… no, you know what? You do know it fluently.'

She beamed, and Dick let out an internal sigh. _Just keep the super-powered alien happy, Dick. Even it's not true._

Rachel glided over to them, eyebrows raised. She glanced between the two of them and groaned. It was so painful watching Nightwing being completely and utterly infatuated with the Tamaranian warrior princess, drowning in self disappointment. She had interpreted that the Earth hero had never been this way with a girl before, and it was confusing the hell out of him.

She raised her hand, asking for silence, which both 20-year-olds answered to willingly. They looked to her expectantly.

'I thought you'd be interested to know that I have uncovered some more information about our impending enemy. Annoyingly, I still don't know who or _what_ they are. However, I know part of their ultimate goal', she drawled out as her acquaintances stared in shock.

'… Well?' Dick asked.

'They want to use Earth as their new home planet, or another base. It was a little confusing', she said.

Kori looked worriedly to Dick, who was furrowing his eyebrows in thought. _Soon. I'll go soon._

After a few moments of silence he looked up at the girls. 'I need to go back.'

A confused expression formed on Kori's face, but Rachel nodded. 'I agree. But we're coming with you.'

'No', Dick shook his head. 'No, I've been gone _way_ too long as it is. I need to go alone. If I bring you two in with me, no offense, it'd look really bad to some people.' _Cough, Babs, cough._

Kori closed her eyes and slammed her arms on an invisible table. 'Could someone please tell me what you are talking about?! I am extremely confused…'

Rachel rested a calming hand on her shoulder. 'Later, Kori. I promise. But right now, I need to tell the man in the room about who's the boss of me. _Me_. And I say that I'm going with you, and Kori is welcome to come. That's final.'

Dick still hadn't gotten over how affective the 15-year-old girl was, and how much she blindingly terrified him. 'Fine, but if my friends come after you, you're on your own. And don't say I didn't warn you.'

The demi-goddess smirked. 'Good, then it's settled. You want to come, Star?'

'I still don't know what it is that we are doing or where we are going', she replied as she shook her head. 'But of course, I will join you on your quest.'

Dick groaned. 'Can't believe this… Okay, we leave in a few days, okay? We'll catch the first plane to D.C. Oh by the way, Rach, Kori and I already have our aliases, but what about you? You're gonna need a codename if you wanna be a hero.'

She looked away for a second before smiling. 'Well, I _am_ partial to Raven…'

'Love it', the former boy wonder smirked.

 **GOTHAM CITY**

 **July 18, 23:34 EST**

Barbara smirked as she caught the leg that had been hurdling toward her neck. A gasp escaped Artemis' open mouth and Barbara pulled on it hard, sending her blonde friend flying to the padded ground. Landing on her stomach, she made an _oomph_ sound as she felt Barbara's weight on her back, pinning her arms together and against her back. She flipped her golden hair to the side to eye off the grinning ginger.

'Gotcha, Arty. Nobody's ever escaped this position', she teased.

Artemis merely chuckled, and said, 'I told you what happens when you call me 'Arty'.'

Next thing Batgirl knew, she was hitting the wall in front of her, completely knocking the wind out of her. She coughed and looked up at her satisfied friend, giving her a downsized Bat-glare.

'And you should know, _Babs_. I'm not 'nobody', she said cockily as she offered her best-friend a hand.

She took it, and the girls moved to take up their original starting positions. They circled each other and pulled faces at one another, their normal starting technique to throw the other off. Or just to have a bit of fun. Just as Barbara prepared to run at Artemis, a phone went off.

' _B-b-b-b-Baaaaabs!_ _You better pick up, it's your… uh, kinda brother. The best kinda brother in the woooorld! This is your awesome ringtone, and it will cease if you co-operate and pick it uuup…'_

Artemis gave her friend the most incredulous look as the Batman protégé leapt over the kitchen bench and picked up the phone.

'You know, Tim, I'm really getting tired of the ringtone. Can I please change it?'

She could practically hear him smirking from the other end. ' _Yeah, how 'bout no. Besides, it's fun to watch you get ticked off. You know, before you come at me with like, ten batarangs.'_

Barbara chuckled. 'Right. So watch out. Why'd you call though, Timothy? I can't imagine it was to remind me that I'm as dangerous as Daddy Bats.'

His pause worried her. ' _It's just… I dunno, you've been acting really weird the past week. You've done well to hide it, but I'm not the only who noticed. M'gann, Kaldur, Zatanna and Conner are really worried about you. So am I. What's going on, Barb? Do you need help with anything?_ '

 _Oh crap. Good going Babs._ 'Yeah, Tim, I'm fine. Why? Am I giving off a weird feeling? 'Cause you know if you're stressed about me, you could get Vibe to well… vibe me?'

 _'You sure? Babs, you can tell me…'_ he said sweetly, worry radiating from his voice.

'Yes! I'm fine, trust me. If something were going on, you'd be the first to know, Timmy.'

He ignored her. ' _We both know that's not true._ '

'Yeah, well while Wingnut isn't around, you're the next best thing', she replied, trying to keep the smile in her tone. **(wingnut, for those who havent seen 'The Batman' is Bab's nickname for Nightwing)**

It seemed to work. ' _Pinky swear you're okay?_ '

'Pinky swear. By the way, I'm coming round to your place for dinner tomorrow night, so I'll see you then. But you better get some sleep, for God's sake, it's nearly 12!'

The Boy Wonder scoffed. ' _Please, we both know I've been out later than this. At least now I'm just sitting on my bed._ _And I have Canary's training tonight._ Anyway, _see you tomorrow._ '

She grinned. 'Kay, night-night Bird brain.'

' _Night… ranga!_ ' he screamed before abruptly hanging up.

She chuckled to herself before she glanced over in Artemis' general vicinity and saw her giving her a very odd look. Confusion, annoyance, worry, and sadness.

'You didn't tell him', she said plainly, her arms crossed.

She placed the phone down, not daring to look at the fiery blonde. 'No, I didn't. I don't know how I'm going to tell him, or if I even am.'

Now Artemis was looking at her with plain disappointment and anger. 'Do you even hear yourself? Jason was just as much of his family as he was yours. And even more so for Bruce. They _all_ deserve to know, Barbara, and if you don't tell them soon, then I will for you.'

'Which is why I'm going to Nanda Parbat to get to the bottom of this. I need to see this for myself before either of them do. Bruce was closest to Jason out of all four of us, and if he knew that his son was at the home of one of his greatest enemies, he would lose his shit. His fucking bat-shit. Tim's way too young to go to a place like that, and he'd be traumatised at the stuff he'd see. Which is why I'm doing this alone', she stated as she picked up a photo of her, Dick, Bruce, Tim and Jason.

'Actually, you're not. I'm coming with you', Artemis said as she walked over to her sceptical friend. 'This isn't up for negotiation. Either I go with you, or you go alone and I tell Batman. Simple as that.'

Barbara looked like she was going to object for a moment, but her words, normally so faithful and loyal, failed her. She gave in with a drawn-out sigh and smiled hopelessly across at her friend.

'So there's _nothing_ I can say or do or anything else can that's going to get you to change your mind', she asked hopefully.

Artemis scoffed and reached for her Tigress mask, staring down at its vibrant colours. 'Not a chance, not a thing. Not even the Reach coming back.'

She pinched the bridge of her nose before chuckling. 'You know, most best friends go to the mall or movies for a fun time, not an extremely dangerous mission to a palace full of trained assassins.'

'Well, we aren't 'most best friends'', she said as she came up to her, grabbed a map of the Middle East out of Barbara's backup and laid it out on the benchtop.

Smiling, she joined her and the two shared a high-five. 'True that. Now, let's get to work…'

 **THE WATCHTOWER**

 **July 18, 22:03 EDT**

Silence fell in the humongous training room as Black Canary made her way into the centre of it. It was the weekly training session that the formidable combat expert held with the junior team, whilst managing being the Chairperson of the League. People started to focus as she over-exaggerated cracking her neck and knuckles. Smiling, she turned to the group of 12 youths, dressed in exercise gear.

'Good evening, everyone. I hope you've all had a great week so far and have managed your school-lives with your heroics and social ones. I'm looking at you, Bart', she joked, pointing to the brunette boy.

She clapped her hands together. 'That being said, while getting a great education and having an actual childhood is all extremely important and vital for your development into adulthood, keeping your mind and body alert, healthy and fit at all times is equally important. Well, for us it is. And learning to juggle between all three and find your consistent strengths in those aspects.'

'Which is why today, or rather tonight, is about harnessing those traits that make you a strong individual and using them in combat. Against a person you've never gone against, or one you rarely do. So everyone, pick yourself a partner that matches those requirements', she gestured to the whole Team.

They all looked around and slowly made their way to another individual. Kaldur had found himself teamed with Bart, Conner with Karen, Jaime with M'gann, Mal with Virgil, and Cissie with Tim. Which ultimately left…

Cassie walked up to the remaining person, waving a hand and lifting a smile. 'Hey, I'm Cassie, or Wonder Girl. We've haven't met yet, but I heard you're Kara, Superman's cousin. Mind if I be your partner?'

The Kryptonian looked momentarily surprised before reflecting the other blonde's friendly face. 'Oh, yes, I heard of you. Conner was telling me about you before, it's nice to finally meet the protégé of Wonder Woman. And I'd gladly accept that offer.'

Kara had quickly adopted the tone of voice and language of a normal adolescent, and had already started discovering nail-polish and makeup. Much to the *Terrible Trio's disappointment.

Dinah looked around, wonder displayed on her face. She walked over to M'gann and Jaime, resting her hands on her waist and her weight on one leg.

'Have either of you seen Batgirl and Tigress recently? They were they only two _un_ excused from tonight's training session that didn't show. Are they okay?' she asked softly, trying to keep the worry out of her tone about her and Ollie's adoptive niece.

M'gann sighed. 'I'm not sure. I know that Artemis has been distant recently, as has Barbara. I think they've kind of been supporting each other. They're probably just on another of their crazy crusades. I-I'm sure they're… okay…'

Dinah could tell the young Martian was convincing herself as much as she was convincing her. She placed a hand on her shoulder and smiled sympathetically.

'I know it must be hard, not knowing where two of your closest friends are, or why they chose to do it alone, but trust me, M'gann. You haven't done anything wrong, and they'll eventually come around. You're their best friend, it's going to be hard to leave you out of the loop for too long. Take Conner out later, take your mind off things, have a fun night out. You've more than deserved it.'

The green-girl smiled gratefully. 'Thanks, Dinah. You always know just what to say.'

She shrugged and stepped back. 'Perks of being a psychologist as your day-job.'

Walking back into the spotlight, she turned to her class. 'I take it you've all chosen your partners now. So… who wants to go first?'

* * *

The group watched on, secretly or openly placing their bets on who would fall hard onto the A.I. floor, and who would triumph. Conner was looking on disbelieving as Karen was bouncing up and down, pointing out the logic about her choice of winner. Kaldur just stood shaking his head, watching Bart run circles around him, poking him in the side. He and everyone else abruptly stopped, however, once Canary glared across at all off them, doing the 'I'm watching you. Closely.' gesture.

For once, Tim didn't have the advantage of being the smaller one, groaning as little Cissie dodged every punch he threw at her. With ease. As she tempted to do a quick jab as his neck, he grabbed her wrist and flipped her around, pinning her arms behind her back.

'Nice try, Boy Wonder, but you really think I can't get out of this?' the young blonde panted.

He scoffed. 'From where I stand, you're the one with your arms pinned. By me. A guy, who's ultimately way stronger than you. It's genetics, can't argue with science.'

'Oh, you didn't just pull the 'who's the better sex' card…' she smirked.

Quickly glancing down, she hooked her foot behind his and kicked forward. He let out a pathetic squeal before falling to the ground. The floor lit up and the A.I. read, 'Robin. Status: Failed'

The elated archer pointed both hands at Tim and screamed, 'Ha! 'Who's stronger', what now? Oh that's right: me! Arrowette: 1, Robin: 0.'

He coughed and propped himself up on his elbows. 'Great, that's awesome, Cissie. But, uh, little help?'

She chuckled as she pulled the teenage boy to his feet. 'Yep, but now you owe me a soda.'

The two walked back to the group as Black Canary took up her position in the centre again. 'Okay, well done, Cissie. So far, everyone has shown real improvement, and I'm extremely impressed in all your efforts. You should be proud. Now, we come to our final pair', she said as she gestured towards the two remaining students. 'Cassie and Kara, could you please take up combat position? Kara, I know that you're new to this, so I'll remind you about the rules...'

'No powers are to be used in this except for super-strength, as yours rivals Cassie's. No flying, no heat-vision, freeze-breath or any of the sorts. This is sparring, so no weapons or objects are to be used, just your own bodies. Cassie won't go easy on you, either.'

The two girls walked into the middle of the circular platform, lighting up as they did. Cassie smiled across at her new friend and whispered a small, 'Good luck. May the best girl win.'

Kara returned the smile before morphing it into a smirk. 'Thanks. I plan to.'

Black Canary stepped back, placed her hands behind her and said, 'Begin.'

Kara yelled out a sort of battle cry as she ran at the other blonde girl. Just as she reached her, however, Cassie dropped to the ground and stuck out her left leg. Kara saw it at the last second and managed to turn what would've been a humiliating trip into a slightly-messy somersault. Landing in a crouch, she glanced behind to see Cassie sending an outward swing-kick directly to her head. She rolled forward and stood up, ducking just in time as the other girl tried a double-jab. Kara went to return the favour, but Cassie had already sensed it and blocked each punch perfectly. She aimed a round-house punch to her side, which managed to catch the young Amazonian.

Cassie groaned and winced, but quickly repositioned herself as a straight-kick came up to her jaw. She caught it with ease, moved out of the way and sent the Kryptonian flying. Kara managed to land in a pouncing position, whirled around and stood up. Cassie came running at her and she quickly took up a prepared stance, waiting for the punch, the kick, or both. She let out an internal groan once she realised what was happening too late. Cassie came up to her at an angle, slid to the ground and swept her legs out from underneath her. The blonde felt the wind completely knocked out of her and let her body flop undignifiedly as she heard the sound of the beeping, ringing out 'FAILED' in her ears.

'Good one, Cassie', she breathed as she looked up to the smiling girl.

She went to offer her hand, but Kara just raised her palm. 'No, it's okay. I got it.'

Soon, she found herself slowly being lifted off the ground, hovering beside her friend like a hummingbird. She smiled and did a large backward-flip before coming down beside her.

'I've been practicing using my powers whenever I can. Flying is my weakest point.'

Cassie high-fived her as they walked back over to the group. 'Well, as a person who's been flying for about two years, you're looking pretty good.'

She beamed. 'Thanks. Means a lot.'

Standing back at the cluster of youths, they all looked expectantly to Black Canary, who stood with an air of pride. She walked over to them and smiled, clearly pleased with their efforts.

'Well done, Cassie. And Kara, considering that was your first spar, I am extremely impressed. Keep up the good work, and you'll become a very skilled fighter.'

Looking to all of them, she stated, 'You should _all_ be proud. You've all come a long way from when I first met each of you, and your progress is astounding. Excellent work, everyone. If you have any questions about anything to do with tonight's session, feel free to ask me now. Otherwise, see you all at the same time next week.'

Gradually, everyone melted out of the room. M'gann was giggling away as she dragged a clueless Conner off, Mal and Karen had their arms linked as they made their way to the Zeta Tubes, and Jaime, Bart, Virgil and Garfield were having yet another sleepover at the Watchtower. Cissie ran over to Dinah and the two shared an adorable hug before they headed over to Oliver's post.

Kara was on her way out before a familiar voice called out behind her. 'Hey Kara! Come hang out with us for a bit.'

Glancing behind, she saw Cassie waving at her with hand, while the other was fondly holding Tim's. She walked over to them, and returned their friendly smiles.

'Hey guys. Um, not to be a party-pooper, but… it's nearly midnight. Shouldn't we go get some rest?' she asked curiously.

Tim shrugged. 'Sleep's a luxury that superheroes don't realise that often, which sucks. Trust me, I never hear the end of this one's complaining', he joked as he pointed to his girlfriend, who gently butted her shoulder into his.

'Shut it for once, Timmy', she said light-heartedly. 'Anyway, what he said is true. We don't get much sleep. Most of the time, it's our own fault, to be honest. I mean, come on, you create a team of _teenage_ superheroes; along with the already late nights, we like to party a little too hard. You learn to deal though. Besides, it's the weekend. We don't have to go to school for another two days, we might as well have a little fun.'

Kara blinked, absorbing the new information. 'Uh, okay… So, what did you have in mind?'

Cassie and Tim shared a smirk. 'Cassie and I thought we should show you around. After all, so far, you've only seen most of the Watchtower and part of Metropolis. We should do something exciting, and I know the coolest place in Coast City.'

'You guys are the experts', she shrugged. 'But I have to be back by two, or Cla-Superman will have a fit.'

'Consider it done.'

As they made their way to the Zetas, Cassie stopped short and cocked her head as she looked at Kara.

'Kara, I forgot to ask, with you joining the Team and all, you know, once you've figured everything out, you're gonna need a name. You know, I'm Wonder Girl, he's Robin… what about you?' she asked curiously.

Tim furrowed his eyebrows momentarily and looked expectantly to Kara. She looked between the two of them, apparently bewildered at their wonder.

'Seriously?' she said with a smile. 'I thought it was obvious. My cousin is Super _man_ , my kind-of brother is Super _boy_ … and we are all family… why don't I be called Super _girl_? The _Girl_ of Steel?'

Cassie beamed while Tim nodded in agreement. The blonde Amazon linked her arm with Kara's, grabbed her boyfriend's hand, and walked toward the Zeta Tubes together. The world had just gotten a little bit more… super. For all of them.

 **GOTHAM CITY**

 **July 21, 09:39 EST**

Barbara picked up her toothbrush and neatly placed it in amongst the other, various contents of her suitcase. She closed it with a sigh, simultaneously closing her eyes simultaneously. Resting her palms on its synthetic texture, she let her conscious venture through the depths of her mind. Was she really sure about this? She and Artemis, in a few short hours, would be attempting to infiltrate one of the most well-organised, well-prepared organizations of all time. Furrowing her eyebrows, she pinched the bridge of her nose tightly. They were insane to do this. They also knew that Green Arrow and Batman would have their heads if they found out about what they were doing.

She glanced across at Artemis, asleep on her couch. She looked so innocent, so peaceful, so tranquil, so… harmless. Barbara chuckled. _Yeah right._

Even before she reached the sleeping blonde to gently wake her, Artemis shifted and squinted her eyes open.

Barbara smiled as she stood over her friend. 'Morning, sleepy-head.'

'Oh, what time is it?' Artemis yawned as she rubbed her dust-filled eyes.

'Nearly ten. The plane leaves in three hours, so we should probably head to the airport soon.'

Artemis startled completely awake. 'Seriously? Ugh, Babs, why didn't you wake me up earlier, you idiot?!'

She chuckled as she watched her friend run over to grab her hairbrush and tame her golden mane. 'You were up till four last night, or should I say this morning. I thought you could use some extra shuteye, so I packed your bag for you. You're very welcome, by the way.'

Artemis sighed in relief and her shoulders sagged. 'Barb, you're a lifesaver. Did you organise a cab?'

'Naturally', she scoffed with a flick of her auburn hair. 'Got the plane tickets as well.'

'You, my friend, are a super-woman. Dick's an idiot to not have come back grovelling yet', she pointed out as she tied up her hair.

 _Shit. Good one, Artemis._ She turned around to see Barbara with a slightly sombre face. 'Oh, Barbara, I'm so sorry. I didn't mean to bring it up.'

Her heart broke a little when she saw a single tear slid down her cheek. It reminded her so much of Wally after a difficult mission…

She walked over and tilted her chin up, forcing her to look into her blue-grey eyes. 'Hey, we'll find him. I miss him too, but I know he'll be back, and I know he's safe. Anyway, he'll probably find us before we find him, knowing Dick.'

Barbara brought her into a hug, something Artemis would normally resent and struggle in, but it was Babs. She'd gladly return any gratitude or comfort her best friend showed her. She clutched her tightly as she felt small sobs shake her friend's normally strong, steady physique. _Grayson,_ she hissed to herself, _when you come back, I'm going to whoop your ass for making the strongest of us all crumble. But mostly for making Babs, your best friend, and in my eyes_ soulmate _, feel like absolute shit. You selfish idiot, hurry up and come back home. For all our sakes. For Barbara's sake._

After a few moments of complete vulnerability, Barbara took in a deep breath and composed herself. 'I'm fine. Thanks for the support of my little… collapse, Art.'

She smiled at her. 'You're not, but okay. And anytime, what are best friends for?'

Barbara returned the smile before looking to her backpack. Walking over to it, she grabbed her Batgirl costume and neatly packed it in along with her utility belt. Artemis joined her and raised a suspicious eyebrow.

'I'm probably going to regret asking this, because the answer is probably going to be obvious', she started. 'But won't the security guards at the terminal x-ray your bag and see your uniform? It's just, I think we should try and avoid suspicion and controversy as much as possible…'

Babs smirked across at her. 'The bag's lined with a thin sheet of adapted lead. The machine will pick up an image, but it won't be what's actually inside, just an illusion. Batman's design, so it works.'

Artemis pointed a finger. 'And there it is. Of course it's lined with lead. Drag of being Ollie's partner is that the man, even though he's the owner of a multibillion-dollar tech business, is a complete moron. Plastic Man, or even Booster Gold, are probably smarter than him.'

The red-head chuckled. 'He's not that bad! I mean, come on, some of the stuff that comes out of those arrows.'

She rolled her eyes. 'Whatever. Are we going now? I'm as anxious as you are to poke around Ra's Al Ghul's personal stuff.'

'Yes', Barbara replied as she swung her backpack over her shoulder and grabbed her suitcase. 'By the way, your backpack is over there, with your Tigress uniform already inside.'

'Thanks', she replied as she picked up the lead-lined luggage.

Catching up to her friend, who was already halfway down the flight of stairs leading to the curb, Artemis grabbed her arm.

'Babs, if what we find isn't what you wanted to find, or expected to… just, don't be… I don't know, disappointed. This random lead could be a dead-end, literally. You need to keep that brilliant head of yours rational-' she warned.

Barbara scoffed. 'When have I not kept a rational head on the mission?'

'When someone you care about is involved', Artemis replied seriously before sighing. 'Just... just don't let emotion cloud your judgement.'

She understood her point. Retorting back that she was trained by Batman, emotion was never in the picture, well, it'd be a complete lie. Evidence of that was in her performance on missions since Dick had disappeared without a trace. He'd been coming into her head at the most random times, and she'd nearly been in a heap of trouble due to that distraction once, which Bruce talked to her about afterwards. That hadn't been the only time, though.

When Commissioner Gordon had been taken hostage in one of her earlier crusades, she'd been emotional wreck. And that was an understatement. When Tim had been transformed into Joker Junior for a few days before Nightwing, Batman and herself rescued him and rehabilitated him. She'd been a complete sook those four nights without her little brother.

Looking to Artemis, she nodded. 'I'll do my best.'

She smiled. 'That's all anyone can ask for.'

With that, they got into the cab and went on the way, so began the adventure of their lives.

 **APOKOLIPS**

 **July 19, 00:48 UTC**

The hunch-backed, hooded figure scuttled through the maze of the gloomy palace. His Lord hated it when he didn't get news delivered punctually. In fact, he hated most things. Other beings leapt out of the way as they saw him running toward the throne room, knowing that the Lord would probably dispose of them if he didn't receive information of the new development in time.

Reaching the throne room, he lowered his back further down with every step until he was grovelling at the higher being's feet.

'Well…?' his deep voice boomed.

The cowardly creature spoke up. 'M-my Lord, there is news from Earth. Sent by Vandal Savage.'

He leaned forward. 'Show me.'

The small man shakily brought out a device and a hologram lit up. Savage's mangled face appeared, sneer and all. 'Greetings, my friend. I send my deepest apologies for my inability to be there in person. Unfortunately, there has been an incident on Earth that required my council. I have acquired some new information that might interest you.'

'The Justice League, as you are very aware of, are a… hurdle in our plans. We have managed to partially infiltrate Batman's main computer, and we now know how to extinguish a number of the Leaguers. Yet, there is the surprising threat of the young heroes. These… children present as great a threat as their mentors, and even if we are able to bring down the League, the youthful heroes may still succeed in protecting the Earth. So you see our problem.'

'My partners and I are currently working on developing a solution to this issue, but if you know of anything that could assist us in making this process quicker, it would benefit all of us. Including you. I'm afraid that is all for now, but as always, I will continue to update you with any arising issues or successes, as you will me. Until next time', the immortal saluted, and then the hologram disappeared.

The servant looked up expectantly at his master. '… My Lord?'

'Send my gratitude, Desaad, and also, let Savage know that I will look into all the resources we have. There will be something on Apokolips that will easily eliminate the tiny, futile humans', the looming figure ordered.

He stood from his large chair and walked down the stairs, hands clasped firmly behind his back. Keeping his back turned to his first-hand servant, he stared out of the window and gazed down upon his dark, red planet, loaded with despair, suffering, and injustice. He smirked at the sight of it all.

He looked to the star system containing the puny planet of Earth. 'No one escapes my wrath. The wrath of Darkseid.'

 **DUN DUN DUUUUUUUN! We finally meet the villain of the story, yay! :3**

 **Okay, yeah, Im not sure about this chapter. Anyway, I'm now back at school (YR 10 MOFOS!) so from now on, a chapter a week is my goal. After all, I'm doing ChemBio, Maths 2, Business Education and Economics. Kill me now |-(**

 *** terrible trio is baaarrrrt, jaimmmeeeee, and gaaaarrrrrrr**

* * *

 **QUESTION OF THE CHAPTER: Who do you ship most with Dick Grayson?**

 **Starfire? Or Batgirl?**

* * *

 **Remember to Review, Favo** **urite and Follow :)**

 **Much Love,**

 **~SpitfireWestAllen15**


	5. Chapter 4: Rogues

**(spoilers) OMG DID YOU GUYS SEE THE SUICIDE SQUAD TRAILER?! AND BATMAN: BAD BLOOD? WITH BATGIRL AT THE END?! AND THE JUSTICE LEAGUE VS TEEN TITANS TRAILER?! WHAT IS LIFE?! I love DC *collapses on floor***

 **AUTHOR'S NOTE: Heyyyyyyyyyyyy! (plus infinity 'y's)**

 **Omg, head's up, this chp is fucking long (scuse my french). but it really is. Proof-reading it took like, 15 minutes.**

 **And as everyone seemed to love the 'question of the chapter' that i did with chp3, I think I'm going to make it a thing now! Btw, the overall vote was BY FAR Dibs! Yay! I'm not siding, I swear!**

 **School's been interesting so far, like, I (basically) hate everyone in my classes and homeroom, but the subjects are interesting, so I won't wag school just yet ;)**

 **Without further ado, CHAPTER 4!**

* * *

 **CHAPTER 4: Rogues**

 **NANDA PARBAT**

 **July 23, 02:53 PTZ**

After climbing through rugged forest for hours on end, emerging into the clearing should've been something awesome. Yet fear and anticipation crawled through Barbara's gut like maggots. Artemis shortly came up beside her, dressed in her Tigress uniform, and all she could manage was, 'Woah…'

'Yeah', Batgirl breathed out, staring at the view before them.

Nanda Parbat stood on the top of a mountain opposite them, looking as though it were about to fall off the face of it any second. The grand structure left both the women in awe, questioning if they were right about their chosen method of entry. Batgirl looked across to her friend and nodded. Tigress reached behind her and pulled out her cross bow, grabbing a zip-line arrow in tow. Loading her bow in a blink, she shot the arrow so that it impacted right underneath the great palace. Securing the other end onto a nearby tree, she nodded in response.

Batgirl clipped on her utility belt's safety chain onto the wire line. Tigress hooked her cross-bow on after, and gave her thumbs-up. The ginger sent a tight smile her way before jumping off the precipice. And the view was unlike any other.

Had she not been on such a dire mission, she probably would've laughed as she soared over the fog beneath her. The moon shone bright and big above them and gave the misty atmosphere a glimmery tint. Other thin, tall mountains surrounded them, and Batgirl allowed her eyes to close in momentary comfort as she flew across the valley.

Unfortunately, the comfort didn't last long as once she opened her eyes, she saw that the line was about to end. She glanced down at her belt and pressed the small brake button on it, and she came to a slow, steady halt. Looking behind, she saw Artemis doing the same on her cross bow. There was a small ledge at the bottom of the line's entry point, one which could fit both of them comfortably.

Batgirl gestured to Tigress, who nodded in response. Taking their turns in quietly leaping onto it, they looked to one another. Batgirl glanced to her glove-computer and brought up a map of the entire facility.

Tigress leaned closer to her and whispered, 'Have they detected us?'

'Not yet…' she whispered back, not taking her gaze off the screen before her. 'If the alarms do go off, however, I know where every escape route in the entire palace is.'

'Retreat? That's not my style. Not yours either', Tigress retorted.

Batgirl rolled her eyes. 'Trust me, you don't want to deal with these guys. They're merciless, especially if someone trespasses.'

'Okay, so what's the plan as of right now?'

She pointed to the map. 'This, as I already explained, is our best entry point. It's closest to where Jason's signal was going off and it's the most undetectable entrance. Once we're in, I'll leave the security cameras to you to set on loop when we come to each of them. Any guards we encounter, we knock out immediately. If they have the chance, they _will_ kill us. From there, we follow the tracker until we find it. Or don't find it. Hopefully this isn't a dead-end.'

'And what if it isn't?' Tigress urged. 'Have you found any reason as to why Jason might be here?'

Batgirl looked away. 'I-I don't know, but I have a theory…' she sighed. 'It's the Lazarus Pit. It has healing abilities, and legend says it can even bring people back in certain cases.'

Tigress moved away. 'Bring people back? As in…'

'From the dead', Batgirl winced.

The blonde sat in shock for a moment before gently nudging her. 'We should get started.'

Batgirl took a second to respond, but she soon nodded in agreement, got up and looked to her friend. 'Let's do this.'

* * *

'Hyah!' Batgirl cried as she knocked out the final guard. She smirked as his eyes rolled back into his head and crumbled to the ground, joining the other three already laying at odd angles.

Tigress loosened her shoulder and stretched her arms, groaning out, 'That was fun. Haven't had a real challenge like that in a while.'

Batgirl rolled her eyes and scoffed. 'Come on, Tigress. Head in the game.'

She pointed to the door in front of them. 'This is it. My phone says that Jason is in here.'

'You ready for what comes next?' Tigress said.

She sighed. 'I don't know…'

Careful not to make it creak, she opened the door and held it ajar. Ushering for Tigress to follow her, she crept into the large room, taking in her surroundings. Most of it was fairly plain, yet a green glow emitted from the down the stairway. The two girls slowly made their way down, careful to watch for alarm triggers, yet they found none.

Batgirl felt a hand on her shoulder, and she looked back to see Tigress gesturing down to the eerie glow. Following the line of her hand, she saw a green pool of water, bubbling with mystical properties. And who should be bathing in the pool but Ra's Al Ghul himself. Whipping out her batarangs and seeing Tigress arm her crossbow, they advanced on the ancient assassin.

'I had a feeling that one of you would show up, sooner or later', he said without emotion, without moving or even turning his head.

The girls furrowed their eyebrows and held their positions, Batgirl going as far as baring her teeth. She moved closer and tensed her muscles, ready to hurl the batarangs at him with a moment's notice.

'Where's Jason?' she hissed, glaring at him furiously.

The old man sighed and shook his head. 'Gone, I'm afraid.'

'Look. At. Me', she growled softly.

When he didn't comply, she shouted it. ' _Look at me!_ Where is Jason?! Answer me, tell me _everything_ , Ra's.'

He chuckled. 'Mr Wayne really _did_ train you. Only one of his protégés could threaten someone like me in that manner.'

Turning around, he walked out of the green pool. 'I'm sure the Dark Knight has told you of the Lazarus Pit, yes? Wondrous thing, the Pit', he gestured toward the green, watery pit he'd emerged from not two seconds before. 'It has the power to heal the injured, give the elderly youth, refresh the ill. And it is as the legend goes, that the Pit even resurrects the deceased, in special cases.'

Batgirl walked up closer to him and held a batarang to his throat, drawing blood. To which he just raised an eyebrow and smirked.

'What did you do...?' she whispered cynically, giving him the most almighty bat-glare.

He sighed and looked away, gesturing calmly for her to lower the batarang. She ripped it away, however held her glare.

'When I heard that the Joker had gone too far in our partnership, to the point of the unnecessary killing of Robin, I was livid. Batgirl, I may be the Demon's Head, leader of the League of Assassins, and I may be the enemy of your mentor, but I do not kill without a reason. I kill when there is a threat to my organisation, to my daughter, or to something else I care about. I don't kill when it is a harmless, young boy with unclear intentions.'

He started walking off, yet kept explaining. 'And so I dug the child out from his resting place.'

Batgirl gasped and stormed toward him. 'Why, you sick son of a-'

'I had always been told of the legend the Lazarus Pit supposedly held. I bathed, and bathe in it daily, which is why I have no scars, am the physical age of a 25-year-old and, well, never die. A few of my servants and I prepared his corpse for its waters, slipped him in, and, well…' he trailed off.

Batgirl's eyes widened. 'You tried to resurrect him… yet…'

He looked at him a certain expression, suggesting there was something she didn't quite understand… Until she did.

'Y-you did resurrect him', she stammered out, eyes darting all over the place.

Behind her, Tigress faintly heard those words and raced after the other two. She looked at Batgirl with the most horrified look on her face.

'Sorry to intrude, but did I just hear what I thought I heard…?' she asked sceptically.

Without looking away, Batgirl replied with, 'Yes. Jason… Jason's alive.'

Before either of them could say another word, Ra's spoke up. 'Not quite. True, after the Pit affected him, he was… awake, in his body. Yet the former mind and soul of Jason Todd appeared to be nowhere. We tried to calm him, to convince him we were not his enemy, but he attacked us. Not in a skilful matter. He attacked us like an animal would. We tried with all our efforts to contain him, but he unfortunately escaped our grasps. We followed him out until the entrance, and he seemingly disappeared. I assumed he fell off the cliff and died… but if his tracker is still working…'

Batgirl and Tigress looked up in surprise, and Ra's Al Ghul nodded. 'Yes, I know about Wayne's tracking system for your little family. And I know that Jason, in amidst his soul-free mind, tampered with the tracker to lead whoever somehow located him on a wild-goose chase. So that tracker is useless to you now, I'm afraid. And the Jason you once knew is long gone'

Batgirl crossed her arms and pouted little a little girl. 'Great, _just_ great.' She then sighed and relaxed her arms. 'I just… I can't believe that after all this time… he's alive.'

'Now you tell Batman and Robin', Tigress instructed, resting a sympathetic hand on her shoulder.

It took a moment, but Batgirl slowly nodded. She turned to Ra's and gave a small 'thank you', before turning toward the exit.

'Wait a moment', his voice called out. 'I know that we are usually enemies, but in this case, I will give you a warning, as even I would not wish this upon my greatest foe. Jason Todd is gone, long gone. The person who emerged from the Lazarus Pit may look, act, move and speak like him, but he is not. For your sakes, I urge you to leave him be.'

Batgirl turned back to him, giving a small smile. 'I'm sorry, but I can't do that. He's in there somewhere, and he's family. We do anything to protect our family.'

She then whirled around and left out of the door, leaving a dumb-founded Tigress flicking her gaze between Ra's Al Ghul and her best friend. 'This is so weird… Oh, by the way, there's a bit of a mess in the hallway. We'd help clean it up, but I'm guessing we're back to being mortal enemies now, and mortal enemies don't exactly do that for each other so… I'm just going leave and follow her.'

Tigress scoffed and ran after her friend. Ra's watched them leave for a moment before glancing to the green, bubbling pit behind him. He sighed, and then smirked. Yet another distraction for the young heroes to deal with… another thing to keep them away from the real, impending danger.

 **SYDNEY**

 **July 23, 11:47 AETZ**

'Ugh, Conner, when I suggested that we go to Australia in the not-to-distant future, I didn't mean on a mission.'

Superboy hurled a punch at an oncoming person, sending them flying. 'Hey, this wasn't my idea. Blame Aqualad or Batman for saying we needed to take down his Rogues.'

Miss Martian shrugged and turned in the air to glimpse a crazed Harley Quinn, laughing hysterically as she ran toward her with a revved chainsaw.

She looked to her boyfriend, smiling. 'Two seconds, babe.'

Drawing her attention back to the Joker's infamous girlfriend, she raised an open hand and with two fingers telekinetically flicked the chainsaw out of her hands. Harley looked distraught for a few seconds before getting furiously angry.

She yelled out at the top of her lunges, 'My puddin' got that for me 'specially, you stupid bi-!'

'Watch your mouth', Miss Martian replied, forcing her to keep her lips shut.

She giggled as she watched the messed-up villain squirm in her hands. Then with a clench of her fist, she bound the girl to a nearby tree, using some of Poison Ivy's dead plants to tie her up. She floated down to Harley and smiled sweetly at her.

'Look, Harley', she said. 'I love our little talks, but I need to get back to work. But we'll catch up later, okay?'

Flying away, she chuckled as she interpreted muffled curses coming from the black and red sidekick. Looking down at the scene before her, she saw Superboy, Guardian and Troia going head-to-head with Clayface, Arrowette and Bumblebee taking on Poison Ivy, Robin and Wonder Girl tearing up Two-Face. Which only left…

'Joker, I know where you are, so there's no point in trying to hide in the shadows while the others do your dirty work', she called out.

And then a cackle. 'Oh, Missy M, but where's the fun in that? Personally, I love watching this show. Oo, get them where it hurts, Clayface, my boy!'

She rolled her eyes, then closed her eyes and determined his exact location. Opening her eyes, she tracked him down and found the Clown Prince of Crime hiding behind a hedge with the biggest grin on his face. Looking up at her, he continued to beam.

He waved at her. 'Oh hey, Missy! Need a seat? There's one right beside me. And don't worry, I have tons of popcorn.'

Grinning evilly up at the Martian, he reached in to the popcorn bucket and threw some corn colonels at her. After a moment of confusion, she quickly put up a deflective shield around herself, thanking her lucky stars that she did, because as soon as they made contact, they spontaneously combusted. Looking back down at the Joker, she felt satisfied when she saw him with a disturbed look on his face.

'Bad move, kiddo', he tutted. 'Poison Ivy grew those especially for today, and if she found that they were wasted on a shield, she'd be pretty ticked. Kinda like how I am now.'

He got up and ran at her, jumping into the air to try and reach her from where she levitated. As he started to throw his razor-sharp cards at her, Miss Martian easily diverted them into trees with a flick of her wrist. Unfortunately, as she was so distracted by the colourful cards coming her way, she missed the fact that the Joker had thrown a dagger into the mix. She only knew it was there when she felt a searing, slicing pain in her shoulder. Rushing a hand up to it involuntarily, she winced as she saw the dagger had 'nicked' her, leaving a nice gash.

'But how…' she breathed.

'Bit surprised, Miss M? Can't really blame you, I can't imagine you've come into contact with this material before. In the words of its supplier, it makes Martian skin more susceptible to wounds and blah, blah, blah, stuff about science. And it makes Mister J the happiest clown alive! After all, I love new toys', he growled with an evil smile.

She looked on, shock displayed clearly on her face. Furrowing her eyebrows and baring her teeth, she released the throbbing shoulder and used both hands to get to the Joker. She lifted a nearby log and rammed it into his head, and for once, the clown was quiet, dreaming of getting away from Batman and Robin, or playing a trick on them.

Miss Martian came down onto the ground and stood over the unconscious lunatic, glaring at him. 'I've had enough of the toys. And the jokes.'

She took off and made her way back to her teammates. Flying over, she saw that Poison Ivy had been sprayed with enough weed-killer to render her temporarily powerless, Two-Face had been tied to the same tree as the squirming Harley Quinn, and Clayface was just a puddle of mud, currently being collected by Robin and Bumblebee. Landing down, she saw Superboy glancing around before making eye-contact with her. He smiled at her, but his look of pleasure turned to one of pain when he saw her bleeding. The world _was_ starting to spin a bit…

He ran over to her and got her to sit down, just in time. Her head was spinning, and she could swear there were _two_ Superboys.

'M'gann, what happened? Are you okay?' he squeaked, worry clear in his crystal blue eyes.

She smiled reassuringly up at him. 'A little light-headed, but the only thing that really got hurt was my pride. Oh yeah, and the shoulder. The shoulder hurts like hell.'

He glared at the direction where she'd flown from. 'Who did this to you? _How_ did they do this to you?'

'Joker, but don't worry, he got what was coming', she winced, another pain-burst rushing through her. 'And I don't know. It was just a dagger, but it cut through my skin like I was a human…'

'He said it was a material that made Martians susceptible to infliction of wounds. But it's the Joker, how on Earth did we get something so… dangerous?' she whispered worriedly, looking up to her boyfriend with a scared face.

He leaned forward and gently kissed her on the cheek, pulling away to look into her brown eyes.

'M'gann, don't worry. I won't let Joker hurt you or anyone else with that again', he whispered back lovingly, pecking her on the forehead.

Smiling, she glanced up at him. 'I know you won't', she said before wincing again. 'Argh, but right now, I need to get this stitched up. For some reason, my powers aren't healing it. Hello Megan, I should get it cleaned! Maybe once it's been washed of any antibodies remaining, it'll naturally heal.'

He smiled and lifted her to her feet, wrapping a protective arm around her waist. 'Yeah. We should get Robin, Bumblebee and all the other science nerds to take a sample, too. Maybe it could prove to be useful.'

She beamed, the smile reaching her eyes. 'You do realise you're a bit of a science nerd yourself? But it's okay, you're my science nerd.'

He looked utterly confused, but he just rolled with it. After all, it was M'gann. His sweet, little, alarmingly boisterous M'gann.

Walking back over to the rest of Beta Squad, they turned to see Bumblebee explaining the situation to the local authorities and reporters, Guardian and Troia arguing about which one of them fought better, and Arrowette, Wonder Girl and Robin gossiping about God knows what.

Troia glanced their way and gasped as she saw Miss Martian. Racing over, she stared distraughtly at it.

'Miss Martian, in the name of Hera, what happened?' she asked, though it came out more like a shout.

Miss Martian ushered the Amazon to keep quiet. 'Shush, Donna', she whispered. 'I'll explain back at the Watchtower. Actually, I'll need to tell everyone about this, Batman especially. Probably looking at a whole League and Team debrief.'

Her eyes widened, before slowly nodding. 'O-okay, but we must get you bandaged immediately. There are supplies on the Bioship.'

She nodded and gestured toward the remaining members of the squad. 'Round up everyone. The authorities are going to lock these guys up in a max-security prison until they organise a ship to take them back to America.'

Troia nodded, then flew off to gather the team. Superboy turned to her and quirked an eyebrow.

'You read their minds', he plainly stated.

Miss Martian rolled her eyes. 'Just to acquire information about how they were going to deal with the Rogues.'

He shrugged, and the two of them walked off, hand in hand toward the camouflaged Bioship. From behind a bush, a figure stood, curious at the situation that had just unfolded. They'd heard rumours, but they'd always thought the League would never go as far as hiring kids to do the adults' job. The League surprised them more every day. They still couldn't believe that the crazy old man had been right about the Junior Justice League.

'Well, I'll be damned', they cursed, before running off, not leaving a single trace that they'd been there. Nobody would suspect a thing.

 **THE WATCHTOWER**

 **July 23, 06:26 EDT**

' _Recognised: Superboy B04, Miss Martian B05, Bumblebee B17, Guardian B24, Robin B20, Wonder Girl B21, Troia B26, Arrowette B27.'_

The Team walked into the Watchtower with a spring in their step. Despite the bumps, it had been a successful mission. M'gann had been stitched up by Robin's careful hands and Bumblebee had taken a sample of her cut, saving it for later to be put under a microscope. But for now, it was fun times and celebration.

Aqualad stood waiting, pride evident on his face. He congratulated each of his members, but stopped short at the sight of M'gann's injury. He walked over with a grim look, studying her carefully.

'M'gann, what happened?' he asked, concern dripping from his voice.

She smiled reassuringly at him. 'It's alright, Kaldur. Just some incredibly invincible dagger that Joker had. Tim stitched it up and Karen is going to look at a sample she took with Dr Palmer. Besides, it's just a flesh wound', she joked.

'Hardly. You were bleeding all over the place', Superboy grimaced, then turned to their friend. 'Tim said that she was lucky she didn't tear an artery.'

Aqualad's eyes widened, then rested a hand on the Martian's shoulder. 'I am just glad it was not worse. And considering how light-hearted everyone is, I am guessing that the mission went well.'

'Extremely!' Cassie called, already changed back into her civvies. 'The Rogues didn't know what hit 'em. You should've seen us, Aqualad.'

He smiled at the younger girl. 'Good to hear, Cassie.'

Turning to the rest of the Team, seeing that Kara, Jaime, Gar and Virgil had joined, Kaldur addressed them all. 'Well, everyone, seeing as tonight's mission was such a success, as has most of ours been this past week, I suggest we celebrate. Anyone have any ideas as to how?'

Kara raised her hand. 'We could go to that bar in Coast City that Tim and Cassie showed me. It's great!'

Tim cringed as Mal raised an eyebrow at the underage boy, and Cassie poked her tongue at a disapproving Donna.

Kaldur chuckled. 'Perhaps not. Any others?'

After a few moments of silence, Karen spoke up. 'We could always just have a small party here. We have plenty of uneaten food sitting in the refrigerator.'

Kaldur glanced around the room and saw a silent consensus being made that everyone agreed. He then pointed into the direction of the kitchen and sent everyone off. Fun times were ahead.

* * *

Laughter filled the large living room of the Watchtower as happiness radiated from each person. Donna was mimicking Wonder Woman, while Cassie sat on Tim's lap, watching and bursting into fits of laughter, tears rushing down her face. Karen was giggling about something as Mal leaned in to whisper something rather intimate into her ear. Jaime, Gar, Bart and Kara were playing _Call of Duty_ , with Kara winning by a landslide as the boys watched on helplessly.

Kaldur, M'gann and Conner were sharing small talk, exchanging news about their week and the related subjects. M'gann chuckled at Kaldur's joke, but a flicker of moment caught her attention in the corner of her eye. Turning around, she saw Cissie glancing down at an object in her hand, depression written clearly on her face.

'Be back in a second', she said politely as she walked over to the fourteen-year-old girl.

Cissie flinched as M'gann laid a comforting hand on her shoulder. Ripping it away, she glanced down to what the Green Arrow protégé held so close in her trembling hands.

 _Oh_. It was a photo of Artemis, Wally, Dick and Barbara from a few years ago, back when Batgirl first joined the Team in mid-2013. Wally was lying across Dick and Artemis, grinning like an idiot with a raised thumb. Artemis looked like she was in the middle of rolling her eyes, and Dick was beetroot red, obviously trying to contain himself from laughing. Barbara was leaning in between the blonde and the black-haired, smiling a sweet, easy-going smile. It was picturesque. They all looked so young, innocent and light-hearted. How far away that seemed now.

Cissie looked up at M'gann, tears forming in her chocolate eyes. M'gann stared down sympathetically at the young archer, and brought her into a tight hug. At first, Cissie seemed shocked at the sudden contact, but soon returned the embrace, clutching at M'gann's organic clothes.

A slender hand started combing through her blonde hair, stroking her comfortingly. ' _Shh_ , I know, Cissie. I know you miss Artemis. I miss her too. But I'm sure she'll be back soon, and she'll be able to tell you about her fantastic adventure.'

Cissie squinted her eyes shut and buried her head further into M'gann's shoulder. 'But why didn't she take me with her? If it was such an adventure, why didn't she take me? She's basically my big sister, and sisters do everything together!'

M'gann was stunted. 'I don't know, Cissie. I don't know.'

Suddenly, everyone turned at the sound of shattering glass. The broken glass lay at Conner's feet, his eyes wide, mouth gaping, apparently frozen. Letting go of Cissie, M'gann flew to his side, terror emitting from her body like heat from a fire.

'Conner?! Conner, what's wrong?' she pleaded as she shook him.

He blinked and looked down at her, and then mumbled, 'I-I thought I heard someone come into the Watchtower, but…'

'But what?' M'gann asked, letting go of his shoulders.

He turned his head toward the doorway. 'I… it said 'B01'…'

The Team looked to each other, a mixture of hope and fear in their eyes. Then without another word, sprinted toward the Zeta Tubes. Gar morphed into a cheetah and ran his heart out, Donna, Cassie, Jaime and M'gann flew with just as much speed, Bart chose not to rush off ahead, afraid of what he might see or find. Kaldur, Tim, Mal, Karen, Conner and Kara all went by foot, running as fast as it was humanly possible.

Pulling up next to Conner, Kara asked, 'Conner? What's happening, what did you hear?'

He glanced to his adoptive sister. 'Didn't you hear? Super-hearing and all?'

'No', she sighed, clearly disappointed in herself. 'I'm afraid I was too wrapped up playing C.O.D. Sorry, Conner.'

Conner turned back around and kept running, pushing, sprinting with everything he had.

They reached the main room, and came to sliding halt at the sight in front of them. Slowly, everyone's disturbed and shocked faces turned into ones of pure joy. None of them dared to move though, in case what they were seeing was an illusion and wasn't actually there.

That was until M'gann leapt into the air and flew straight toward the thing that had captivated them all.

'Dick!' she screamed out, grinning like an idiot as she slammed into him, wrapping her arms around his neck.

'That's what she said', he smirked, returning the friendly embrace. 'Oh, and hey, M'gann.'

She pulled away, still smiling at him like crazy and planted a huge kiss on his cheek, before pulling him back into another bone-crushing hug. She began laughing with delight, happy-tears rushing down her face.

'Where'd you go? What'd you do? Are you okay? Are you hurt? Where have you been all this time?! Babs is going to kill you, by the way', she tumbled out, one word starting before another finished.

Dick chuckled and gently plucked his friend's limbs off of him. 'Okay, okay, calm down, M'gann. I'll tell you guys everything in just a moment. You must all have a lot of questions, but just stay whelmed for a moment. I just need to do something.'

Turning away, he headed over to the operating system of the Zeta Tube. He pressed a few icons and buttons, and after a few seconds, the voiceover spoke.

 _'Access: granted. Raven B29. Authorization: Nightwing B01.'_

The teleporter whirled to life and Raven, hood and all, soon followed suite. Gliding into the main room, she glanced around with a raised eyebrow. She eyed off each of the stunned Teammates, apparently underwhelmed by the otherwise impressive superheroes. Looking to Dick, she raised an eyebrow.

'So this is the amazing Team you were telling me about?' she asked sarcastically.

He chuckled. 'Trust me, they're deadly as hell itself.'

He then turned back to the machine, pressed yet another few keys, and the voiceover said, ' _Access: granted. Starfire B30. Authorization: Nightwing B01.'_

Everyone stood speechless and motionless, excluding Dick and Rachel, as Starfire glided in. She smiled politely at the girls and batted her eyelashes at the boys before making her way to her two friends.

'I was beginning to think that you had left us, Richard', she said sweetly.

A smirk reached his eyes behind the dark glasses that hid them. 'Never, Kori.'

The trio turned back to the Team and watched in amusement as they all stared on with open mouths. They started to get worried, however, after a good 30 seconds. Dick walked over to his old Team and waved his hand in front of their faces.

'Uh, hello? Anyone home?' he asked, half-jokingly.

As he reached Karen, he yelped in shock as she smacked his hand away. 'Where were you, huh? We were all really worried, some of us actually thought you were…' she drifted off.

He blinked repeatedly. 'Look guys, I'm really sorry. I promise I'll explain everything, but right now, I need to let the rest of my family know I'm okay.'

With that, he walked over to Tim, who had grown considerably taller since he'd last seen him. He rested his hands on his shoulders and smiled down at his younger brother.

'Starting with this one. How're things, Tim?' he asked.

Tim just glared at him. 'You were gone. Bruce, Babs and I were so worried, Dick. I… I didn't know if you were even coming back.'

Dick straightened up. Apparently the kid had become more straight-forward too. 'Look, Tim, I'm sorry. I know I should've contacted you, but I couldn't. I'll explain over dinner with Bruce and Barb. Speaking of which, I can imagine the Brooding Bat is tucked away in his Cave, but where's Batgirl?'

His eyes widened, before looking away. 'Nobody's seen her in a few days. And unlike _some people_ , she always reaches out. Last time I heard from her, Artemis was staying over at her apartment and I think they were going on another crusade.'

Dick let go him. _Nobody's seen her in a few days_ …. Had he been too late? If he had come back just a few days earlier, would Babs have been there, not running off with his other friend on some ridiculously dangerous mission? He sighed.

Starfire walked over to him. 'Richard? Are you all right? Who is this 'Batgirl'?'

Dick turned to the Tamaranian. 'Thanks, Star. I'm… fine. And she's a friend. A good friend.'

Gar came up to the pair, confusion written clearly on his green face. 'Um, hate to intrude, but who are the newbies?'

'Oh, right', Dick cleared his throat. 'Everyone, this is Starfire, or Koriand'r. You can just call her Kori, though. She's a princess from the planet Tamaran. And this', he assured Raven over, 'is Raven. She's the half-human daughter of a demon. Her real name is-'

'Just call me Raven', she hissed, glaring at Dick ferociously.

Cassie nervously laughed at the surprising hostility in the young teen. Conner stepped forward, crossing his arms.

'So why are they here?' he asked, eyebrows furrowed.

Dick sighed and cast his gaze to Raven, saying, 'Care to take this one?'

She groaned, but she walked forward. Everyone stepped back in shock as her eyes turned black and she lifted off the ground. Lifting her hands, she cast an image in front of them.

'As Nightwing said before, my father's a demon. And yes, it's as fun as it sounds. Though my mother is human, I was raised by my father in the magical realm of Azarath. That, however, is _not_ as fun as it sounds. Children there are raised to be cynical, untrusting, dark and well… demonic. While I am quite dark, very cynical, and extremely untrusting, I have somehow been able to maintain my humanity and morality. My father does not approve of that fact that I'm fighting for the good guys, and he will go my any means necessary to bring me and who I care for down. That includes the Earth.'

She conjured up an image of a looming silhouette, broad-shouldered and terrifying. 'He has taken it upon himself to get a partner, and a powerful one at that. While I have managed to acquire this information and the fact that this person wants to take Earth for their own, my father has shielded their identity and any other intel. I was in Tokyo, following a lead I found, when Nightwing found me. I tried to shake him off, but he's extremely persistent.'

He shrugged. 'It's part of my charm.'

'I told him all I knew, and soon summoned Starfire over here. Life on her home planet hasn't been exactly peachy lately. Don't let her appearance fool you; she could easily kick all your asses in 30 seconds flat. Super-strength, flight, solar-powered energy blasts from her hands, and more. She's a complete badass, and she's nothing compared to me, so _don't_ cross me', she growled.

Dick chuckled and stepped in front of the pessimistic, protecting his friends from her scorching rage. 'Okay, Raven, I think they got it. Thanks for explaining all that.'

Gar leaned into Bart, whispering, 'I don't like her, and I don't trust her.'

She looked around Nightwing's broad build and glared at the Martian. 'I may not have super-hearing, but I can hear just fine, loser!'

He glared right back and crossed his arms. 'Whatever, _Rae_.'

M'gann stepped in front of her brother and pushed him back. 'Garfield, stop that. Be polite to our guests. Unbelievable', she breathed as she walked over to Starfire.

Smiling at the Tamaranian, extending her hand. 'Hi Kori. My name is M'gann M'orzz, welcome to the Team.'

She looked at her hand, then glanced back up. 'You are not human, are you?'

M'gann blinked. 'Uh, no. No I'm not. Actually, a lot of us here aren't human. For example, I'm from the planet Mars, which means I know how hard it is to adjust to a new world. If you want, I can show you the ropes…?'

She looked uncertain for a moment, but smiled at the Martian girl. 'Thank you, M'gann. I gladly accept your offer. Please show me these ropes.'

M'gann raised an eyebrow and looked to Dick, who just shook his head dismissively. The former Boy Wonder watched on contently as M'gann linked her arm with Kori's and took her away, while Rachel and Gar appeared to be having a glaring contest. The other Team members peeled away, each person, pair or group heading in different directions. He smiled at the thought that he was finally home, and he'd never felt more liberated in his life. Gradually, everyone left until Tim and Cassie were the only ones left apart from the lingering Grayson.

He watched as the two of them held hands and touched foreheads, Tim whispering something to his girlfriend. A small smile came onto Dick's face as he saw Tim's thumb caressing her hand before pulling her into a hug. She slid her arms around his neck and kissed his cheek, before whispering something else into his ear. He closed his eyes and buried his head into her hair, smiling like it was the best feeling in the world. After a few moments, he lifted his head and whispered something else to her, to which Cassie pulled away, nodding with a reassuring smile. They held hands until the last second as the young blonde walked away, Tim's heart going with her.

The Boy Wonder smiled as he watched his girlfriend fly off, and then groaned when he remembered Dick had seen the whole thing. Walking over, he saw the 20-year-old giving a genuine smile.

'You better not have taken a picture of that', he moaned, glaring at his beaming brother.

He shook his head, still smiling. 'I didn't, but I'm really happy for you, Tim. Cassie's a great girl and you two are pretty perfect together.'

Tim raised an eyebrow. 'Don't tell me you've gone sentimental this past year.'

'Not a chance', Dick joked, ruffling up the younger boy's hair.

Tim smiled and then looked up at his older brother through his now loose hair. Dick raised an eyebrow, apparently studying the new look.

'What?' he chuckled.

'I don't know', Dick smiled, shrugging his shoulders. 'I just think you should keep your hair like that. Chicks dig it, trust me, I know. When I was Boy Wonder, gel-free hair was all the thing, and everyone wanted to be the _Girl_ Wonder. Take my advice, Timmy. Take advice from the person whose superpower is being a charming, lady-slaying butt-kicker. Oh, and also being ruggedly handsome.'

Tim pushed him playfully away. 'Sadly, it seems that despite the time away, you've maintained the omnipresent modesty.'

'Just another thing that makes me so irresistible', he said with a jolly voice. Leaning in closer, he whispered in his ear, 'Plus, Cass would love it.'

Tim's eyes widened, and as Dick pulled away, the young man winked down at him. 'Just give it a shot.'

The younger boy slowly started nodding and smiled, before down-casting his eyes away from Dick's. 'Can… can we talk? It's about Babs…'

Dick's charismatic and charming attitude immediately fell and he nodded solemnly to his brother. Tim gently grabbed his arm, leading him toward a hallway and let go of him, continuing to walk.

He stared straight ahead. 'She's been a mess, you know… She hasn't been thinking clearly at all. She's become rash, impulsive, kinda like you when you first began. Or was that Wally? The stories you told me were usually told while intoxicated, so I really don't know.'

Dick ignored that last comment, but looked at Tim in shock. 'Barb? Rash? Impulsive, I get, but… really? I always thought she'd be the last one to lose her cool.'

'Yeah, well, you disappearing off the face of the Earth wasn't very turbing for any of us. Artemis was a bit lost too, and Bruce nearly _killed_ someone after a month of you being gone. And thank God for Cass, 'cause who knows what I would've done had she not been there for me', he looked away, tears brimming in his eyes. 'You missed my birthday, Dick. You missed _Barb's_. We just… we missed _you_. I missed you. I couldn't bear to think what might've happened to you.'

Dick felt tears forming in his own eyes and pulled off his glasses, resting his hands on Tim's shoulders, getting the teen to look up at him. 'Hey, hey Tim, it's okay. I'm alright, I'm home. And I'm not going anywhere anytime soon. I promise you that.'

He brought the boy into a hug, kneeling down with him onto the ground. 'I missed you, too', he whispered.

Tim clutched at his shirt and finally let out the bottled-up tears he'd been stowing away for months, years. The two brothers sat and just held one another, blocking out the rest of the hatred and maliciousness of the world, even if it was for only a moment. It may have been loss, death, and sadness that brought them all, the Bat-family, together, but it was every individual honourable character strengths and traits and kept them from falling apart. And in that moment, the siblinghood and love that resided in the two boys couldn't have been stronger.

 ***wipes away tears* I was listening to Coming home while writing that last one, and I legit teared up. On the bus. People were staring. Btw, go check out the Robins tribute to the song 'Coming Home'. SO ADORABLE.**

* * *

 **QUESTION OF THE CHAPTER: Favourite member of the Bat-Family? (I'm not listing them, there's way too fucking many of them)**

* * *

 **Hope you guys enjoyed that!**

 **Remember to Review, Favourite and Follow :)**

 **Much love xx**

 **~SpitfireWestallen15**


	6. Chapter 5: Connections

**AUTHOR'S NOTE: Heyyyyyo guys :)**

 **Guys, I have a theory... with the SUICIDE SQUAD movie coming out on Aug 5.**

 **... Scott Eastwood is Dick Grayson/Agent 37. I know its far-fetched, and a lot of people think he's playing Slade Wilson/Deathstroke, but here are my reasons:**

 **1\. Scott signed a three-film contract. Let's be honest, Deathstroke is awesome, but I mean come one! D.G. was the 1st Robin, and he is arguably one of the most important Batman characters EVER.**

 **2\. He was cast just 1 week before they started filming, meaning that his costume didn't require much effort. Creating Deathstroke's mask and the rest of his uniform for that matter would be hard, considering how detailed it is. Dick? He's an undercover agent, he just wears what everyone else is.**

 **3\. In the BvS trailer, their was a tombstone that read 'Richard John Grayson'. 0.O In the comics, Dick technically dies before he's brought back to life, which is when Bruce sends him to Spyral to be a snoop. Everyone else thinks he's dead. IT MATCHES PERFECTLY**

 **4\. It's Scott Eastwood. If you guys have seen the Longest Ride, you'll know just how toned and downright attractive this guy is. And let's be honest: Dick was voted #1 Hottest Male in Comics. *smirking on the side***

* * *

 **Okay, sorry, totally off topic and story, and you'll have no idea what on Earth I'm babbling about if you only know YJ, I just _had_ to share this theory. Let me know what you guys think. **

**Without further ado, ENJOY CHP 5**

* * *

 **Chapter 5: Connections**

 **GOTHAM CITY**

 **July 26, 11:27 EST**

Artemis groaned as Barbara handed her yet another piece of evidence. They'd been going over clues, leads, and any snippets of evidence they could find on Jason and Nanda Parbat. Trying to determine where the boy was, _who_ he was and what he was doing was proving to be quite the challenge.

The blonde archer had rested her head against her arms as she read over the list of men who had recently had their names legally changed. And 'recently' meant the past three years. She glanced across at her red-haired friend to see her flicking through, page after page, of security footage photos at local airports.

Artemis leaned back and rubbed her eyes. 'Ugh, Barb, we've been going over all this for 5 hours straight. We should take a break, and oh, I dunno, maybe go see our team?'

Barbara didn't look up, and flicked over another page. 'Not until we find something. Anything.'

Artemis yawned, got up and walked over to her, prying her list out of her hands. 'Trust me, Barb, we won't be able to find anything in the current state we're in. Let's go take our minds off it for a bit. Who knows, maybe we can actually go on a _real_ mission commissioned by Kaldur. There's an idea.'

When Barbara just glared back, she sighed and crossed her arms. 'Come on, Barbara. We will find Jason, but not if we're searching 24/7. You need to remember that despite common belief, you're not a machine. You're a 20-year-old woman who is forcing too much upon herself and expects way too much of herself as well. Please, Babs. Take a break, even if it's only a short one'

She glanced up from her work and looked into Artemis' blue-grey eyes, seeing sincerity and concern sprinkled on them along with the dark flecks in the iris. Sighing, she shook her head and quirked an eyebrow at her best friend.

'I can't decide if you've gotten good at psychology because of your classes or Dinah's training', she smirked. 'Cause that was a nice speech. And a convincing one.'

She nodded toward their uniforms, laying across one of the beds. 'Suit up.'

Artemis smiled and rested her hand on Barbara's shoulder. 'Power of persuasion at its best. Hurry up, I haven't seen the Team in a week. I can't wait to see them all again. But I'm not waiting for your sorry ass.'

She smirked and leapt off her seat, grabbing her black and yellow uniform and sprinting to the bathroom, calling out, 'Who said anything about _you_ waiting?'

 **THE WATCHTOWER**

 **July 23, 10:44 EDT**

Nightwing, dressed in his uniform once more, stood with Aquadlad, Miss Martian and Superboy, talking about the past year he'd been gone and about who Trigon's partner was. It had taken a fair amount of explaining to get his old friends to calm down about his little 'off-the-radar' episode, but they'd eventually all come around.

M'gann had been the first to forgive and forget it all, she had actually been the one apologizing, saying how sorry she was that he felt that he couldn't get anyone involved, that he had to do it all alone. Conner had been a little bit sceptical, saying it hadn't stopped him from calling in backup before, but he respected his decision and said he was just glad and relieved to have him back. And then there was Kaldur. Kaldur took a while, but then he realised how lucky he'd been all those months with Black Manta and the Light to have Tigress, and even Wally and Nightwing on the outside. He shook Dick's hand, saying he was incredibly proud of him and his efforts, and the two of them agreed on sharing the role of leader.

Suddenly, they heard a whirring sound, and looked to the Zeta Tubes as they whirled to life.

 _'Recognised: Tigress B07, Batgirl B16.'_

Through the domino mask, his eyes widened in shock and fear. 'Uh oh.'

Tigress sauntered in, explaining to Batgirl about how a mission would take her mind off of Jason and Dick, when she turned her head and stopped short, eyes widening. Batgirl raised an eyebrow and waved her hand in front of her face, giggling as she did.

'Hell _ooo_? Tigress, you in there?' she chuckled.

Tigress took in a breath and then pointed a finger in front of her, glaring slightly. 'You may want to glance that way.'

Holding up her raised eyebrow, she turned her head and gasped. He was there. Wait, was he actually there? Or had she somehow been drugged… And then he started cowering behind M'gann. _Oh, it's him_.

She bared her teeth and glared at the man in front of her, her blue eyes piercing through the mask to his. Storming towards him, she let out the most almighty yell.

' _Richard John Grayson!_ You little _shit!_ I'm going to skin you alive, burn you on the stake, sever your limbs, feed them to Great White Sharks and give the rest of your pathetic body to starved piranhas!' she screamed as she got closer and closer to the wincing man.

He smiled nervously and raised his hands in defence. 'Listen, Babs, let me explain-'

She growled and whipped out a batarang, which narrowly missed slicing right through Nightwing's head. His eyebrows shot up and he glanced around to see the batarang lodged in the wall, with a freshly-cut lock of black hair. He gulped.

Tigress walked over to Miss Martian, neither of the women taking their eyes off the scene in front of them.

'Should we do something?' Miss Martian breathed out, leaning back out of fear.

Tigress just scoffed. 'Yeah, never get on Batgirl's bad side.'

Neither Aqualad, nor Superboy and the two girls had ever seen the red-haired crime-fighter this aggravated in their lives. Nor had they seen Nightwing so truly petrified.

They slowly followed the pair around the corner like a bunch of gossiping schoolgirls, curious to see what happened, worried they'd be seen. Tigress couldn't help but snort at the sight of the brave and fearless Nightwing pinned against the wall, terror written all over him as Batgirl stalked closer, giving him a Bat-glare that would make even Batman shiver. She screwed up her face and squinted at him, like he was so far away from her that doing so was the only way to see his cowering physique.

'Talk. Now', she hissed out through gritted teeth.

He shakily lifted his hands and placed them on her shoulders, gently pushing her away from him. 'Not here, not with everyone here. I wanna tell you alone…', he raised a nervous hand to the back of his sweaty neck, before smiling charmingly down at her, 'maybe, I dunno… maybe over dinner.'

She glared even more and harshly pulled his hand down, digging her nails into his suit. 'No. No, if you even think for just _one_ second that it's going to be that easy, I swear I will make your life a living hell. Even more than I already have.'

He sighed and cast his gaze away, relaxing his stance. Torn between wanting to hold her and kiss her, and wanting to give her as much space as possible, he stepped back unsurely. And his timing couldn't have been worse.

'Richard?!' Starfire flew into the room, rushing to Nightwing's side and placing two concerned hands on his shoulders, slowly massaging them. 'Is everything alright? I heard some raised voices while Zatanna and I were doing the sparring.'

The Tamaranian glanced around to see Batgirl in front of her and the former Boy Wonder, and Nightwing felt like shooting himself when the alien girl pointed a finger at the other red-head girl.

'Who is this, Richard? Is she the one who caused you the harm?' she asked worriedly, glaring across at a very stunned Batgirl.

She scoffed in disbelief, looking between the two people in front of her. ' _Me?_ _I'm_ the one who caused you 'the harm'? And I should be the one asking who _you_ are, Miss Spray-tan.'

Nightwing cleared his throat and stepped between the two battling women, raising his hands. 'Okay, let's just stay whelmed for a moment before we go ripping out throats, alright?'

He turned to Kori and gestured toward the enraged Batgirl. 'Kori, this is Batgirl. She's one of my closest friends in the world, the one you heard Robin and me talking about the other night. And we were just… discussing, loudly. Heavy on the 'dis'. She would never do anything to hurt me, as I wouldn't to her.'

Batgirl smacked his hand down. 'That's rich, considering you left me scared and worried for 3 freaking months with any indication you were okay- no, you know what? I'm going to wait until it's just you and me, and then I'm going to _really_ let out and tell you what I felt the last 3 months.'

He blinked profusely, before addressing her, gesturing to Starfire. 'Um… this is Starfire, or Kori. She's a, uh, princess from the planet Tamaran, she and another girl have joined the Team recently.'

Batgirl crossed her arms and huffed. 'There's _always_ another girl with you. And of course you've been back, what, two, three days, and there's already another two members. Of course', she hissed.

Looking to Starfire, she nodded somewhat politely and said in a calm matter, 'Nice to meet you, Kori. I'll see you 'round.'

With that, the ginger stalked off, stopping by Tigress to let her know she was welcome to continue to stay at her place. Nightwing wanted to reach out and run after her, make her stay with him, but something had him planted to the ground. He didn't want to let her get away from him, like he had her the past months. Why couldn't it ever just work out between them?

He was brought back into reality by Kori's steady hand landing on his arm, and he glanced around to see her green eyes looking sympathetically back at him. He smiled back at her, and watched as her hand slid down his arm until it landed in his gloved one. Looking down at their joined hands, blue and orange, opposites, yet they worked great together, he couldn't help but smile. Glancing back up at her, she smiled her perfect gleaming smile at him and nodded toward the kitchen.

'Ice-cream sounds awesome, Kori. Thanks', he nodded.

As Batgirl stormed off, she couldn't help but glance behind to see Nightwing and Starfire's intertwined hands. The tall Tamaranian glanced across at him, giving him a perfect, pearly smile, which he returned. Their hands squeezed one another's fondly as they walked off. She and Dick used to hold hands like that…

Batgirl shook her head, desperate to get them out of her head. She had to focus on her own life now, not Dick's, like she'd been doing for the past ten years. He'd always be an important part of her, but what mattered in that moment was telling Bruce, Tim and Alfred about Jason. Dick had had his chance. Now, she had to focus on the people in her life who actually understood, actually listened. Actually cared.

She waved back toward her four friends, who she could see were discussing the scene that had just unfolded between the three of them. They waved back, all flashing a caring, sympathetic smile. She sighed. Maybe the universe was just trying to knock it into her head that she and Dick would never be, no matter how hard each of them tried. A single, shameful tear slipped down her cheek as she walked through the Zeta Tube.

 _'Recognised: Batgirl B16.'_

* * *

Virgil looked at the blank TV screen in front of him, boredom setting in like mid-term stress. He let out a drawn out sigh. Despite having trained harder than most on the Team, since he was still 'new', he didn't go on hard-core missions very often, and had never once been in Alpha Squad. He'd actually started nicknaming Gamma Squad 'home'. He half-heartedly glanced around the entertainment room to see Zatanna and Raquel coming back from the training room, wearing nothing but sports bras, exercise pants and a ton of sweat. His eyes widened and he rapidly directed his attention back to quiet television.

Oh sure, he was a super-powered teenage boy, but he _was_ a still a teenage boy. With hormones, including a heap of testosterone.

Zatanna walked over and leaned over the back of the sofa, smiling at the blushing Virgil.

She chuckled. 'Hey Virgil, how's the show going? I'm lovin' all the action. How about you?'

He went a deeper shade of red against his dark skin, mumbling some indistinct words. Zatanna beamed and glanced behind to her friend.

'Hey, Raquel, we have a blusher over here', she joked, gesturing toward the 17-year-old with a nod of her head.

'Oo, girlfriend', Raquel squealed out, looking over in excitement. 'Leave some for me!'

Giggling like a schoolgirl, the 21-year-old woman sprinted over to the sofa and leaned against it, on the other side of the petrified Virgil. He gulped as he looked between the two women. What he wouldn't give to go up against Gorilla Grodd, Bizarro or even Black Adam right now.

The two of them leaned closer, smirks and raised eyebrows on both their faces. Virgil was this close to shrinking up into a ball, hiding away from the teasing, cheeky women.

'Team, report to the mission room for debrief. Repeat, all Team members report to mission room for debrief', Aqualad's voice sounded over the sound-system.

Virgil's eyes shot up. He leapt to his feet and faced the smirking women, raising his hands defensively. 'Uh, nice chat, but Team, uh, meeting. I'm needed. 'Cause I'm in the Team. So… bye.'

With that, he ran to the locker room to suit-up. Zatanna and Raquel looked to each other and burst out laughing. Wiping the tears from her eyes, the young magician sighed.

'Oh, that was fun. Never affected Dick, so picking on the young ones makes up for not being able to do it on that Boy Wonder', she smiled.

'Yeah, why are they always saved by the bell though? We need to chat to Kaldur about his timing', Raquel pointed out.

Zatanna winked and pointed her index finger. 'True that. But you know', she said slyly. 'To have some more fun, we could just join the hormonal teen boys on the mission.'

'Girl', Raquel raised her hand, to which Zatanna high-fived. 'This is why we're best friends. And in the words of our dear friend Devastation, 'I like the way that pretty brain of yours thinks.'

The young woman smiled before glancing down at her current getup. Tutting, she lifted her hands and smirked at Raquel.

' _Hserfer ruo secnaraeppe! Egnahc sehtolc otni ruo smrofinu!_ ' she chanted with a snap of her fingers.

Immediately, the sweaty, dishevelled clothes and messy hair disappeared from the women's bodies and were replaced with their tight-fitting uniforms, with knot-free, silky hair and clean skin. Raquel smiled down at her appearance and chuckled.

'And _this_ is why you're my favourite person, Zee. You know, apart from my husband', she joked.

The young magician smirked and gestured her to follow, and with that, the two women made their way to the control room.

* * *

Arriving in the middle of the debriefing, a few people turned to the younger League members, but most kept their attention on Aqualad and Nightwing. Zatanna spotted Miss Martian and started making her way over, when she realised that a very familiar face was standing beside her. Tigress raised a hand from her side and did a small wave, smiling at her friends.

Zatanna nudged her friend, and both Rocket and her waved back, making their way over. Giggling slightly, she bumped shoulders with her blonde bestie and turned to watch Aqualad and Nightwing.

Leaning into her friend's ear, maintaining her focus on the front, she whispered, 'Welcome back. Tell me everything later.'

The archer smiled and nodded back in response before raising an eyebrow. 'Zee, great to see you and everything, but you do realise this is a _Team_ mission, right?'

'Yeah', she nodded. 'I just remembered I haven't really seen Nightwing yet. It's good to see the return of the eye candy', she smirked, looking towards the muscular, lithe man.

Tigress snorted and rushed a hand up to her mouth, urging herself to keep quiet. Raising an eyebrow, she turned to her friend and looked at her in disbelief.

'What?' she shrugged, smiling. 'Just 'cause I'm not dating him anymore, doesn't mean I can't still think he's quite possibly one of the hottest guys on the face of the Earth.'

They heard the clearing of a throat and both women turned their heads to see Nightwing with his arms crossed and eyebrows quirked. Yet, he still looked slightly amused. Slightly.

'Great to see you Zatanna, Rocket. But if you're both done gossiping with our Team members, you might like to make your way to… anywhere but here', he suggested, stealing a sideways glance at an annoyed Aqualad.

Rocket and Zatanna shared a smirk, and Rocket turned to their leaders. 'Well, we thought we might be able to join a mission, considering the fact that we tend to drift between League and Team anyway. And there are lots of people we need to catch up with.'

Aqualad narrowed his eyes and walked towards them. 'I hope you do realise that these missions are not social gatherings, but genuine crusades to make the Earth a better place.'

'Of course!', Rocket exclaimed, raising her hands defensively. 'But _you_ do realise that we're women? We're able to multitask, so therefore, we're able to kick-butt to an amazing degree of awesome while being Chatty Kathy. Unlike the boys, who aren't really good at either, especially the latter.'

The female populous of the group cheered, obviously agreeing with Rocket's argument. The boys, however, downcast their eyes, wanting to argue but not knowing what to say, or if they should even say anything. Considering how many times the girls had beat them to a pulp, both physically and mentally, they thought it best to just keep their traps shut.

Nightwing pinched the bridge of his nose and raised a hand for a silence. After a few seconds, everyone succumbed to it, and silence enveloped the room once more. He smiled and sighed.

'Okay, now that everyone has _that_ out of their systems, maybe, just maybe, we can back to the debrief?' he asked sceptically.

When silence answered his question, he proceeded. 'Good. Now as Aqualad was saying, Vandal Savage and Queen Bee have recently been spotted together, working on some project. They have been frequenting locations such as the Bialyan Palace, the Colosseum in Rome, Sydney Opera House, Lady Liberty, along with numerous other famous landmarks around the globe. One squad will be deployed to each location to find out whatever they can. This is an undercover mission, but should anyone appear that we feel is a threat, go public and into your uniforms.'

'As these are such famous destinations, there will be a large crowd of people in all of them. Try to not attract attention as best as possible, and remember: Undercover mission, so no heroics unless necessary', he ordered.

Troia, dressed in her dark, starry uniform, walked forward and glared at him. 'Why should we listen to you? I certainly still don't know who you are, and I do not take orders from people I do not trust.'

Nightwing merely raised an eyebrow, while Aqualad come beside the black-haired beauty. 'Troia, calm down. Nightwing was the sole leader of the Team before I took up the role, and he is the most experienced of us all. He has been a hero for eleven years, and has worked harder and more diligently than any of us. So stand down.'

She blinked in shock, and looked to Nightwing, who still seemed unfazed. 'My apologies', she said, raising a fist to her heart. 'I should not have spoken until I knew more details.'

He batted a dismissive hand, smiling at the Amazon. 'Don't worry, it's all good. Trust me, I've had worse in my own family.'

Taking back his place at Aqualad's side, he spoke privately to his old friend. 'You should assign squads. Being gone a year, I kinda forgot just how everyone fights. You know each of them best.'

The Atlantean placed a hand on his friend's shoulder. 'Thank you.'

He then turned to his Team and scanned over them, before smiling slightly and nodding. 'Alpha Squad will be led by Nightwing, and Static will join you. You will be deployed to Biayla.'

Static's eyes widened in happy shock, and Robin nudged him encouragingly, smiling at his friend.

'Tigress will lead Beta Squad, which will consist of Kid Flash and Troia. Delta Squad shall be led by Miss Martian, and you will take Robin and Rocket. Zatanna can take Gamma Squad, which will be Beast Boy, Raven and Arrowette. Beta will go to Sydney, Delta to New York and Gamma to Rome. We will lead another mission later in the week once we have more members here and we know more about these first four. I will stay here with the Bioship just in case I am needed. Good luck, everyone, move out.'

The Team nodded respectfully in response and then each went to their assigned squad. Raven moaned internally as she looked over to her assigned group of Zatanna, Arrowette and… Beast Boy. Arrowette seemed nice, and she'd heard that Zatanna was a magician, which would make for good talk between the two of them. But the little, green twerp annoyed the living hell out of her. She couldn't stand him, and he couldn't stand her.

Gathering her wits, she glided over to the others, taking off her hood to reveal a polite smile directed at Zatanna and Arrowette. She received a wave from the peppy archer and a beaming smile from the magician. Beast Boy just raised an eyebrow at her.

'Hey', Zatanna said with a smile. 'You're Raven, right?'

'Guilty as charged', she replied, smiling slightly.

Beast Boy just scoffed, to which Arrowette replied with an elbow in his side.

Zatanna continued to smile, and walked forward to the new member. 'Welcome to the Team. I'm Zatanna, by the way, and I guess you've already met these two troublemakers?'

She chuckled lightly and gestured toward Beast Boy and Arrowette, who currently looked as though they were having a psychic battle. Shaking herself out of their glaring contest, the young archer smiled again and walked over to Raven, resting an arm around her shoulders.

'Yeah, Rave and I are tight. She's really cool, and I reckon she'd give you a run for your magical money, Zatanna. She's a total badass', she explained, beaming at her slightly older friend, who had stiffened and was looking slightly uncomfortable at the sudden contact.

Raven gave a tight smile and stole a glance at Beast Boy, catching him rolling his eyes. She glared at him and lifted a hand. The green boy glanced up and yelped when he saw a solid black piano hovering above his head. He instinctively rushed his hands up protectively to his head, squeezing his eyes shut. Giggles then came from two, feminine voices, and he squinted his eyes open to see Zatanna and Arrowette going red with laughter, with a very smug looking Raven standing between them, holding up her hand, directed at the teetering piano above.

She continued smirking, turning her head slightly and quirking an eyebrow in question.

'Okay, okay!' he exclaimed, giving up. 'I got the message. Be nice to the new girl. Now just get the freaking piano away from my head.'

Her then previously opened hand closed into a fist, and the piano disappeared into thin air. Gliding over to the relieved Martian, she narrowed her eyes and rested her hands on her hips.

'I'm not one for games, _Logan_ , so next time you try to go douchebag on me, remember that piano', she threatened, pointing up to above his head.

He narrowed his eyes right back, and grumbled, 'Noted.'

Watching this all unfold, Arrowette stood on her toes to whisper into Zatanna's ear. 'Ten dollars says they're an item by Christmas.'

Zatanna chuckled and whispered back, 'You're evil. And I say Thanksgiving.'

The two then shared a light giggle before nodding their heads in agreement. Gesturing to the bickering teens, she addressed her squad.

'Alright, guys, as fun and entertaining as that was, we have a very serious mission ahead of us. As we are Gamma Squad, we'll be the last to go behind the other three. Remember, we are a team in this, so no solo acts, go it?' she asked.

Receiving nods from the three younger heroes, she smiled. 'Good. Now I hope you all have your pizza coupons, 'cause yes, we are off to Rome. Sadly, we can't do as much sight-seeing as we'd like to, but I want to remind you that we _will_ be going on a tour of the Colosseum as part of our cover. It'll be easy to get lost there in the crowd so I want you all to stick close at all times. Once we are there, we will find a quiet enough spot to discuss our plan of attack before we head in. Understood?'

They all nodded once more. Beast Boy and Arrowette high-fived at the prospect of an adventure to such an amazing location and going undercover together. Zatanna smiled upon them, and then Raven caught her attention out of the corner of her eye. The 15-year-old had her eyes downcast, and was gripping her arm like it was the final tether of a rope. The magician smiled sympathetically and walked over to her, placing a reassuring hand on her shoulder. Raven looked up in shock, relaxing again once she realised who it was.

'You okay?' Zatanna asked with worried eyes. 'I know how terrifying a first mission is, and especially one of this magnitude. But you're more than capable from what I've heard, Raven. You'll do fine, and if you're worried about anything, just come and ask me, okay?'

Slowly, the teen girl started nodding, and looked up with a thankful smile. 'Thanks, Zatanna.' She then scoffed. 'I was more or less worried about my hideously pale skin fitting in with the Italian complexion.'

'Just put on a hoodie, you'll be fine', she said casually.

Looking back to the other two, she addressed them all. 'Alright guys. Civvies time. Meet you all out here in 10 minutes.

 **ROME**

 **July 23, 16:28 CETZ**

Gamma Squad were hidden, blended into the large population of Rome. Zatanna led the way, dressed in a simple, lilac mid-thigh length dress and knee-high black boots. She was being tailed by Arrowette, who wore some ripped, denim jeans, trashed Converse sneakers and a plain, red shirt. Raven followed swiftly, wearing sweatpants and navy hoodie, keeping her head down. Beast Boy circled above as a small finch, occasionally making his way back to Zatanna and the group.

The plan was simple: find a quiet spot, let Zatanna use her locater spell to find any suspicious objects, grab any of those objects and take them back to the Watchtower for analysis.

Gesturing toward a lonely park bench, the undercover magician took her squad over toward it and sat down. They looked to her expectantly, waiting for her instruction.

'Two seconds. Just need to do the locater spell', she said, bringing out a paper map of the city from her pocket.

Resting it on her lap, she pulled out her wand and pointed both hands at the map before her. ' _Etacol eht ytilamronba ni Emor.'_

Suddenly, a small, blinking red dot appeared within the Colosseum, and light went on in Zatanna's mind. She narrowed her eyes, put her wand away, and pointed her slim, painted index finger at the location. Beast Boy, still in finch form, came to rest on her shoulder and stared down at the little dot.

'There we go', she said satisfactorily. 'Hope someone brought a camera.'

* * *

If anyone else had seen the little group of three, plus the little bird flying precariously close to them, they would've thought nothing more of them. They blended in so well, they appeared to be just another small tour group, or perhaps an older sister with her two younger ones. Zatanna glanced up at Beast Boy, whose little head was turning every which way, keeping an eye out. He looked down at her and shook his little head.

Zatanna internally swore and looked to the two girls on her sides. The map showed they were right near the source, but there was nothing that looked even slightly out of the ordinary.

Suddenly, her com-link beeped, and she raised a finger to it. 'Come in?'

'Hey Zee, it's you-know-who', Nightwing's voice came in, clearly taking on his undercover role.

 _Go with it, Zee. Don't even give anyone a reason to suspect a thing_. 'Oh hey! How's Bialya?'

'Ugh, boring as hell. The brochure got it all wrong, this place is actually one of the most inactive places on Earth.' _Undercover for 'there's nothing out of ordinary'. That means they're experiencing the same issues as us…_

She forced a chuckle. 'Same here in Rome. We're in the Colosseum at the moment, and to be honest, there are a bit too many destroyed vases.'

There was a pause, and then his voice came back in a low whisper. 'I checked in with the other squads, and neither of them have anything either. Virgil and I can't find anything, but my readings are off the charts… How about your locater spell?'

Zatanna whispered back, 'There's a very distinct point on the map, but we can't see anything either. I might get Raven to try to find it in a sec. It's just weird…'

'Okay', he replied. 'Let me and or Aqualad know if anything comes up. Grayson out.'

Zatanna lowered her finger and glanced around again. There was just vase after vase, pot after pot, nothing unusual. Unless…

She nudged Raven. 'Are you able to… I don't know, somehow scan for the source?'

She scoffed unbelievingly and nodded in response. Her hands at her side, she slightly lifted them, and whispered out, ' _Azarath Metrion Zinthos.'_

Her eyes momentarily went black before lighting up again. She pointed across at a small hallway. Zatanna nodded towards it, and the four of them made their way through the crowd. As they neared it, the magician glanced each way, checking for anything else out of the ordinary. They reached it, seeing a small, locked box in the wall and Beast Boy landed on her shoulder.

'See if you can get into that', she said to him, pointing at the small keyhole on the metal box. 'Find out why it's considered abnormal. It should just get electricals and wires in there, but… Just be careful.'

The little, green finch nodded his head, turning into a flying ant and made his way over. He crawled into the tiny peephole and others patiently awaited his return. They didn't have to wait long, as after a short 20 seconds, the little ant came scurrying back out and flew as quick as he could onto Zatanna's shoulder. The three girls looked to him in worry and apprehension.

He changed back to a finch and nodded his head to the door outside. Gamma made their way out as quickly as they could, found a quiet spot sheltered from wandering eyes. Beast Boy landed on the ground beside them and changed back. He looked between his team with uncertainty in his green eyes.

Zatanna looked to him in worry. 'What? Beast Boy, what did you see?'

'You… you remember those people from New Genesis? Where Sphere is from?' he panted out.

When she nodded in reply, he continued. 'Well, there was this weird-looking box inside that metal cabinet. The technology looks similar to Sphere's, and New Genesis' Mother Boxes. It wasn't big, but I didn't feel safe in there with it. Oh, and it had the Greek Alphabet letter 'omega' on it. Do you… do you think New Genesis is planning an invasion?'

She shook her head. 'I don't know, but they didn't really seem like the people to be planning an invasion on their allies and friends. They seemed like a peaceful society, I don't see any logical reason for attacking us…'

Beast Boy surprisingly still seemed shaken, so Arrowette put a reassuring arm around his shoulders.

'You okay?' she asked, worry thick in her voice.

He shakily shrugged back. 'I don't know. I've never felt fear like that. I don't even know _what_ I was afraid of, and I've never been more afraid in my life…'

Raven looked to Zatanna, awaiting further instruction. The magician gestured for her to come beside her, and the half-demon girl floated over to her side.

'Are you able to levitate items through walls with a strong force field around them?' she asked.

When she received a nod, Zatanna placed a hand on her shoulder. 'Cissie is going to stay here and watch Gar. I'm going to pretend to do a street act, drag the civilians away from the device, and you'll go in and extract it. Are you alright with that?'

'Yes', Raven replied monotonously.

Zatanna's cyan-blue eyes narrowed and looked up the Colosseum. 'Good. Let's go. _Egnahc ym sehtolc otni mrofinu._ '

Her magician's outfit suddenly clothed her body. She whispered for Raven to go first, and then she would follow out a few seconds after. The girl nodded, transformed into an actual raven and flew up.

She pulled out her wand, pointed it at her head and whispered, ' _S'tel yrt eht pot tah.'_

Walking out, she put on a showgirl smile and waved her arms in an extravagant way. A few people turned to look and she had an internal cringe moment when she heard a wolf whistle.

'Ladies and Gentlemen, I invite you to witness a treat in this fine city! My name is Zatanna, and I am a true wielder', she enticed, pulling off her hat to let five doves fly out, 'of magic.'

She flashed a charming smile at the growing crowd, and stole a glance to see Raven flying into the Colosseum. _Hurry, kid. Stay safe._

* * *

Zatanna couldn't take much more. Sure, she'd achieved her goal of grabbing the attention of everyone around as she floated up in the air, which was really baby magic, but it had been a good 20 minutes. Raven should've been in and out in _five_ minutes. She honestly didn't know how much longer she could keep up this 'street magic' act.

From her spot up above the crowd of mesmerised tourists, movement below caught Zatanna's eye. She glanced down and saw a familiar black raven fly towards her. It crowed loudly before gliding down towards the hiding spot of Beast Boy and Arrowette.

Zatanna muttered a few words and felt herself being lowered gently to the ground. She bowed with an air of elegance and flashed a confident smile at the crowd.

'That's all I have time for, folks. Thanks for your attention, and have a magical day!' she said enthusiastically before vanishing into an explosion of sparkles, leaving the crowd dumbfounded.

She reappeared in the hiding place beside Arrowette, Beast Boy and now Raven. The three of them focused to their leader.

' _Egnahc ym mrofinu ot setholc'_ , she chanted, letting her civvies hide her true guise. 'Raven, _please_ tell me that you got it.'

She nodded. 'Yeah, I've stored it away in one of my private dimensions, so no one but me can access it.'

The other three looked at her in shock, before Arrowette grinned, turning at Zatanna. 'Told ya she'd give you a run for your magical money.'

Zatanna paid no attention. 'So it's definitely safe? And it doesn't look like it's going to… I don't know, blow up the world at any moment?'

The pale girl smirked. 'It could have the power to blow up the entire universe and we still wouldn't feel a thing. That's the great thing about being able to create and have sole access to multiple dimensions.'

'Alrighty then', Zatanna said, satisfied with their mission. She moved her index finger up to her com-link and pressed it.

'Gamma Squad to Watchtower. Come in Watchtower.'

After a few seconds, Aqualad's voice came back through. 'We read you, Gamma. How is the mission going? Any success with it yet?'

Zatanna smiled down at Raven. 'Substantial. We're on our way home with something you guys might find very interesting.'

'Acknowledged', Aqualad replied, a smile clear in his voice. 'Well done, Gamma. See you shortly. Aqualad out.'

She lowered her hand, resting both of them on her hips before smiling at her squad. She raised a hand and Arrowette ran towards it, high-fiving it with enough force to push over Superman. Beast Boy took his turn in the hand gesture, having mostly recovered from the overwhelming fear. When it came to Raven, she looked at the older magical being sceptically. Zatanna lowered it and gave her a lop-sided smile, resting a hand on her shoulder.

'You did a great job today, Raven. Well done, and welcome to the Team.'

The young girl smiled back, and grinned even brighter when Arrowette came crushing into her side, joy radiating from her. She beamed at her new friend and raised her hand, to which Raven scoffed and high-fived her. The archer then looked to Beast Boy, who was sulking away from the girls. She nudged him hard in the side, and when he finally turned to look at her, she had a very pointed look on her face.

He sighed and walked up to their newest member. 'Yeah, welcome.'

They shook hands somewhat begrudgingly, keeping their eyes cast down. Zatanna tapped Arrowette on the shoulder and leaned down.

'Still sticking to that bet?' she whispered with a knowing smirk.

The blonde giggled and smirked right back. 'Like gum to a desk.'

The two chuckled together, before Zatanna turned to her squad and addressed them. 'Great job today, guys. I'm incredibly proud of how each of you handled yourselves today. Let's go home.'

* * *

 **YAY WE'RE KINDA 1/4 WAY THROUGH! WHOOO :D**

 **I really liked writing this chapter, it was especially fun writing the Dick/Kori/Babs bit ;) Next chapter, we're going to explore more into how Babs feels about Dick's return and his new 'friends', Robin will meet an interesting and alluring figure on patrol in Gotham, and WHAT WAS THE MYSTERY BOX?**

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 **QUESTION OF THE CHAPTER: Most annoying YJ character?**

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 **Thanks for reading this far, guys. Love you all, and your support means the world xx**

 **Remember to Review, Favourite and Follow :)**

 **Much love,**

 **~SpitfireWestAllen15**


	7. Chapter 6: Painful Truths

**AUTHOR NOTE: HOLY MOTHER OF UPDATES, BATMAN!**

 **Okay, so, quickly, super-duper quickly. Going on from the theory about Dick Grayson/Scott Eastwood… I think, maybe, that Scott Eastwood is playing Dick Grayson who is undercover.**

 **As Slade Wilson. Aka, Deathstroke.**

 **WHAAAAAA-? Totally out-there, I know, but they** ** _did_** **say we'd be surprised. HOW MUCH MORE SURPRISED COULD YOU BE THAN THAT?! Someone has reportedly seen a small snippet of SS, and apparently Eastwood was wearing 'S. Wilson' on his uniform. It could just be a snitch looking to cause trouble, tho. But whatever, that's not as cool as this next thing…**

 **YOUNG JUSTICE SEASON 1-2 ON NETFLIX AND ARE YOU READY?!**

 **EVEN THOUGH MOST OF YOU PROBABLY KNOW COS ITS BEEN GOING AROUND FOR LIKE 2 WEEKS?**

 **I DON'T THINK SO.**

 **I DON'T THINK YOU'RE READY FOR THIS JELLY.**

 **…**

 **THEY MIGHT FUCKING BRING BACK FUCKING SEASON THREE! * squeals, starts crying, rolls on floor laughing, sweeps brother's legs out from underneath him in estasy, goes for a sprint around the block, comes back home, collapses on floor, starts laughing like the Joker, pulls out phone to look at YJ memes and crack vids, falls asleep and dreams of Kid Flash hugging Nightwing before kissing Tigress after coming out of the speed force alive and well***

 **Yeah. I know. Let's just say, I have been turbed these last few weeks, and have been feeling the aster every damn day.**

 **…**

 **Oh, AND THEN THERE'S THE NEW BVS TRAILER! LIKE WTF BATFLECK?! BRUTALISING BAD GUYS LIKE THE BOSS YOU ARE! AND I SHIP WONDERBATTTTTTTTT! DIANA FUCKING SPOKE!**

 **Nobody cares about Clark.**

 **Well, now I got THAT out, without further ado, CHAPTER 6!**

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 **BLUDHAVEN**

 **August 12, 21:34 EST**

He knew she was there even before she spoke. Before she moved. Before there was any obvious indication she was there. He stayed at the window pane with his back turned to her. He knew it was rude, and Babs was the last person who should've gotten that kind of treatment, but he couldn't face her. He just couldn't.

'You wanna know where I've been these last months', he spoke plainly.

She sighed. 'For starters…'

He squeezed his eyes close at hearing the hurt in her voice, tears brimming in his eyes. 'Look, Barb, I know that you probably won't ever forgive me, and I don't blame you, but I'm so-'

'Don't even say it. It's not going to be that easy. Just tell me what I want to know, Grayson', she hissed, yet somehow it still came out half-calm.

Grayson. She normally said it playfully, as a joke or a bit of banter. There was something different in how she said it this time. She said it with regret, despair, hopelessness, like she didn't even know his first name. It hurt him, _burned_ him on the inside. It felt like she was killing him with quick, sharp stabs, which was probably mercy compared to how she'd been feeling the past three months.

 _What've you done, Dick_ , he thought to himself. _I don't even know who you are anymore. I'm a stranger in my own body._

'While I was in Tokyo, I saw some… odd activity. That was around the time I stopped communicating with everyone.'

'It was the 'commotion'', she answered for herself.

He nodded. 'I didn't know what I was dealing with, so I decided I'd keep everyone away, just in case any of you were harmed to get to me. I tracked what I saw for months, until I finally saw it. Her. Raven. She was pretty secretive, but one day she just showed up at my place. Completely caught me off-guard.'

Barbara scoffed. 'Well, I know what _that's_ like.'

'She warned in advance about this approaching threat. She didn't, _doesn't_ know who it is, just some dark force coming. She said she'd convinced an alien to help. That alien was Kori.'

Dick could almost feel her stiffen. 'You have nothing to be worried about, Barb. She's amazing, sweet, stunning, smart-'

'I got the point, Richard', she growled.

He shook his head. 'You didn't let me finish. I was going to say that while she's all those things…'

He finally turned around to look at her. 'She's not you.'

Barbara knew he was being sincere, and that he meant it with all his heart, but she kept denying it. _He left you! He left you and Tim and Artemis when you needed him most. He doesn't deserve forgiveness,_ part of her conscious screamed.

Yet the other quietly whispered, _But Barb, he's Dick. You can shut him out all you want, but it won't do either of you any good. No matter how much you want to deny it, he can't live without you. And you can't live without him._

She looked at him, _really_ looked at him for the first time. There were dark bags under his eyes, which were normally an electrifying, enticing light blue, but looked like shadows had long overcast them, reflecting his despair, sorrow and anguish. His fair skin which usually had a light tint to them and made him glow was now dull, pale, lifeless. The bouncy, glossy black hair that fell across his perfect face hung loosely, and looked like it hadn't been washed in weeks.

Looking into his eyes, a piece of Barbara's heart shattered to see how he was looking at her. He gazed upon her so intently, it was like he was clinging to a rope, and she was the final tendril, ready to snap and send him plummeting at a moment's notice. He looked at her with such sorrow, it looked like he was about to give up. Give up on himself, give up on her, give up on them, on everything. And finally, how much love was in his eyes. Barbara had never seen so much passion in one person's eyes as Dick's right then. A tear slid down his cheek, sparkling and lighting a path before it touched the ground at his feet.

 _Babs_ , she warned herself. _Tread carefully. This is_ his _superpower, remember?_

Walking forward, she kept her poker face intact as she neared him. She took his chin in her hand and bent down to look into his downcast eyes, giving him a small smile that didn't quite reach her eyes. As she peered into them, she saw his eyes glistening with unshed tears. She knew it sounded bad, but she felt extremely privileged to see this more emotional side of Dick, as it wasn't one he shared with too many people. He looked up and into her blue eyes, immediately bringing a hand up to gently hold her wrist.

Barbara cocked her head to the side in sad amusement. 'When'd you last get a solid eight hours sleep? Have a decent meal? A shower?'

He scoffed lightly and looked down. 'I think I had eight hours in the past week. You know, in total. And I can't remember either. Sometime in the last month, I think.'

She went to speak up, but Dick turned away, letting go of her hand. 'I-I can't… Barb, I love you, but right now, I don't deserve your compassion. The things that I've done over the past two years… it's unforgiveable. Right now, I need to find a way to redeem myself. That's something I have to do alone.'

He didn't know what he was expecting, maybe a punch or slap across the face, maybe some wise words from his equally wise best friend, but what she did completely caught him off-guard. Rolling her eyes, Barbara tilted his head to the side and kissed him softly on the cheek. She let her lips linger there temporarily before pulling away completely. She sighed, and shook her head pitifully as she stared at the distraught man.

'You're a bit of an idiot, you know', she said with a quirked eyebrow. 'Dick, that's how you've been approaching your problems the past two years. How's it worked out so far? Maybe, just maybe, it's time to bring other people into your private loop. You have this terrible habit of trying to carry the weight of the entire world on your shoulders. It's a noble attribute, but there's a line, a line you unfortunately crossed a long time ago.'

'You don't have to do this alone. You have friends, family, people who care about you more than their own life. Don't get me wrong, I'm still mad as hell, and the only way I can settle this rage is by brutally beating you in sparring', she said, smiling slightly as he cringed. 'But there is not a thing in the world, in the universe, that I wouldn't do for you. Same goes for Bruce, Tim, Artemis and the rest of the Team. We all love you, Dick, and we always will. Unconditionally.'

He looked up at her, sending a silent plea with his eyes, one most people wouldn't have seen. Barbara could feel tears prickling in her own eyes as she walked to him. The second he reached her, Dick wrapped his arms around her middle, pulling her close. It wasn't until Babs looped one arm under his and onto his shoulder, the other round his neck, that Dick really clung to her. He buried his head into her auburn locks, letting the tears fall slowly. The young woman held him close, and with the arm around his neck, started stroking and combing through his messy hair.

They stayed there, content, even if for just a moment, before pulling away. Dick rested his forehead against hers, taking in her presence and scent, something he'd missed terribly over the past year.

'You're amazing, Barbara', he whispered lovingly as she chuckled. 'Turbingly amazing.'

'I know', she whispered back, locking her blue eyes with his.

He chuckled lightly. 'Thank you. For… that. For always knowing what to say, for always being there for me. For everything.'

She shrugged, smiling softly. Then she remembered something. Her eyes widened momentarily before she cast them away, stiffened, and shifted slightly away. Dick noticed it immediately.

'Babs?' he asked worriedly. 'What's wrong?'

She sighed, knowing it only would've been a matter of time before he found out. She'd been back three weeks now, and Bruce and Tim were well into investigating. Dick still didn't know.

'I… I found something on Jason's death', she whispered, looking back into his eyes.

Dick's eyebrows rose and he too stiffened, before pulling her gently closer. 'What? Barb, are you okay?'

She shook her head. 'You know that app that Bruce has? The one that tracks us? Well, about two months ago, I accidently pressed Jason's. It said he was in Nanda Parbat.'

Dick took in a sharp breath, and Barbara continued. 'Artemis and I went there, to, well, see what exactly was going on. So, we beat the crap out of a few guards, followed his tracker, and ended up near the Lazarus Pit. Ra's Al Ghul was there, and he basically let on that he was somehow responsible for Jay's death. He explained to me that he had never meant for Joker to kill him, so… he dug him out of his grave and took him to the League of Assassins.'

He narrowed his eyes and looked away, hissing out, 'That son of a-'

Barbara pressed her finger to his lips, urging him to just listen. 'That was my reaction, too. Anyway, I let him keep talking and, well, you remember what the Lazarus Pit is supposedly able to do in the legend? Well… Ra's tried it.'

'He… he tried t-to resurrect him?' Dick asked, both shocked and sceptical.

She sighed. 'He _did_ resurrect him. But he said that he's not the same. When he emerged, there was no sign of the Jason that was once there. He looked the same, moved the same, but the only thing he had was animal instinct. He attacked them like an animal, before apparently disappearing off the precipice… I know it's weird, but I actually believe Ra's. I truly believe that somehow out there, Jason could be running around like a wild beast.'

Dick had gone even paler than before, his mouth open ajar and eyes as big as an owl's. He shakily looked behind him, grabbed a chair and sat down in it, his head between his hands. It was a lot to process. Apart from Bruce, he'd been the one who knew Jason the best, the one the kid went to when he needed something that he couldn't ask the Dark Knight about. When he'd heard Jason had died, he'd been in utter grief for an entire week.

He felt Babs crouch beside him, resting a hand on his shoulder. She knew. She knew how hard this would be for him to swallow. She bent further down and looked into his wide, uncertain eyes.

'I know. I know it's a lot to take in. The second I got home, I had like, five glasses of red, and even that wasn't enough', she scoffed, trying to lighten his mood. Seeing it had no effect, she sighed. 'Look, I was just as shocked as you, and I'm still trying to get over this mind-blowing news. But _if_ Jason is out there, we need to do him justice and do everything to bring him home, to safety.'

He nodded, before glancing up at her smiling adoringly down at him. 'What did I ever do to deserve someone like you in my life, Babs?' he said with a one-sided smile.

'It was pure luck, Hunk Wonder', she grinned, shrugging as she turned away. 'You do realise that I am still pissed A.F. at you, right?'

'Yeah', he chuckled out, sitting up and rubbing the back of his neck. 'And you can get your bittersweet revenge on me when we spar tomorrow, but right now, I could use one of the reds you were mentioning before. You in?'

'Does Conner hate monkeys?' she laughed, raising a disbelieving eyebrow.

'Only if you're buying, though! And take a goddamn shower!' she yelled out as she rounded the corner to his kitchen.

Dick somehow managed to chuckle despite all that had just happened. Lifting himself up, he made his way to his bathroom, stealing a glance at Barbara. She was currently washing up some of his dirty dishes, humming an indistinct song, a small smile placed on her lips. Dick grinned in spite of himself. God, he'd missed her.

 **THE WATCHTOWER**

 **August 12, 20:17 EDT**

Conner watched on from the corner as Superman, Hawkwoman, Miss Martian, and two of the Green Lanterns inspected the mysterious box brought in by Gamma Squad a few missions ago. This had to have been ten billionth time they'd tried to investigate the properties of it. He sighed as he watched Hal Jordan raise his ring up to it, allowing the powerful weapon to scan.

After a few moments, the ring spoke up. ' _Properties: unknown. Origin: unknown. Purpose: unknown.'_

Hal stared down at his ring in disbelief before tapping at it incredulously. 'That's impossible. The Ring knows what the Guardians know, and the Guardians know everything!'

'Apparently not', Hawkwoman said, scoffing at the space cop glared at her.

'Cut it out, you two', Superman instructed, narrowing his eyes at both of them before directing his attention back to the box. 'Whatever this is, it's beyond anything any of us has seen or heard of. The best we can assume is that it's extremely advanced alien technology. We should lock it up in our high-security volt, just in case it _is_ dangerous.'

Still in the corner, Conner heard footsteps coming up behind him, and turned to see Kara coming over with Starfire. He nodded in greeting before turning back to the scene in front of him.

'They've been at this for thirty minutes, already. They've found nothing', he grumbled, eyebrows furrowing.

Starfire looked at him, confusion plain on her face. 'But that is not a long time on Earth, is it not?'

Conner scoffed. 'Yeah, if this hadn't been the ten billionth time they'd been looking into it.'

'Clark's getting annoyed, isn't he? He feels troubled?' Kara asked, a hand on her adoptive brother's arm.

'That's one way to put it…'

Sighing, the young, blonde teenager turned her attention to the Leaguers in front and tuned in her super-hearing. Leaning in, she began eavesdropping.

'It just doesn't make any sense', Miss Martian hissed, shrugging. 'I can't get over the fact of how similar it is to Sphere's technology and the objects that belonged to the people of New Genesis. If this… box _does_ belong to them… Do you think we could just ask them about it?'

John Stuart shook his head, cutting her off. 'For all we know, this could be a tool for a planned invasion. If this belongs to them, and they intend to invade, then the last thing we want to be doing is casually asking them about it. It could encourage them to speed up the process, leaving us less prepared than we could be. The best thing we can do right now is make sure Earth is ready to the absolute best of her ability, ready for anything they throw at us.'

'This is one of the reasons I broke up with you, John', Hawkwoman interrupted. 'You're way to rash and paranoid. I can't believe that _I'm_ the one who's telling you to stand at ease, soldier. For all we know, this could be part of an intergalactic party. Just a friendly exchange.'

'Shayera's right', Superman nodded. 'Before we go jumping to the worst conclusion, let's just wait a moment. For the time being, I think it best that we go with our initial idea and lock it in the safe. You know, the one that even I can't get out of? That way, if anything bad happens, it shouldn't cause any harm. And even if it does, Earth won't be in danger.'

Slowly, everyone exchanged glances with one another, before giving a concessional nod. Superman gave a tight smile, gestured to the Lanterns, and the two of them put a protective field around it. Hal then gave a light-hearted salute before levitating it away.

Back in the corner, Conner and Kara looked to one another, both unsure what to think of the situation. They trusted all of them immensely, but there was a feeling of apprehension nipping away at their insides. Looking back to the Leaguers and Miss Martian, Conner saw his girlfriend gliding over to him.

M'gann reached him and grasped his hand, looking at their intertwined fingers before flashing back to her boyfriend. Brown eyes bore into blue ones, as did his. She offered a reassuring smile before leaning into him, kissing him sweetly and soothingly on the lips. He kissed back and pulled her closer. Pulling apart after a few blissful moments, M'gann raised a hand up to his head, pushing back some loose strands. Smiling at the touch, he rubbed the back of her hand with his thumb.

'You heard all of it, didn't you?' she whispered, flicking her gaze between his eyes.

He shrugged, smirking slightly. 'Maybe a little.'

She cast her gaze back to the remaining Leaguers. 'I didn't even read their minds and I can tell they're anxious, worried even. I know they're trying to act and seem all nonchalant about the situation, but I can honestly say I've never seen Shayera, or even _Hal_ so apprehensive.'

'They have a good reason to be', Conner said, pulling away and crossing his arms. 'GL's ring not knowing zip about the box? That's scary bad. They'd be two times more relaxed if it were something of the Reach, because then at least we'd have an idea of what we're up against. If we're even up against anything…'

M'gann furrowed her eyebrows and looked down, focusing at the ground. 'I just want to find out what the hell it is, and sort it out so we can all get on with our already jam-packed lives.'

She grabbed his shirt and pulled him close. 'Besides, we need to sort out through your recently-brought-over stuff at my place. Finally get you settled in, _really_ settled in.'

'Ugh, guys, Kori and I are right here. And while we may not be from Earth, we can still understand your not-so-subtle hinting skills. Intimacy is a universal language', Kara said slyly, raising her eyebrows at her brother and his girlfriend.

Conner glared menacingly at her whilst M'gann just giggled and gently pushed her younger friend. Starfire, the only one 'dressed' in uniform among the group, looked to M'gann expectantly.

'So what is the problem? I had heard that the box was causing you all the trouble, but I do not know the why or the how.'

'Unfortunately, Kori, neither do we…' M'gann sighed, continuing her sombre gaze before suddenly looking up in excitement, worrying her Teammates.

'I heard Mr Terrific talking about a heist Cheetah and Shade are planning on doing. Apparently, there's some ancient relic in the Smithsonian Museum that's worth millions.'

Kara had mock surprise written on her face. 'There's an ancient relic worth millions in a _museum_ of all places? Who would've thought!'

Sending a glare in the blonde's direction, M'gann continued. 'Supposedly, this relic has the ability to give people animal-like abilities. It comes from Zambesi, and it apparently dates way back to before Ancient Egypt, which I personally think is incredible. An anonymous tip overheard a clothed figure talking to a shadow. They rightfully thought it was fishy, and told the local authorities, who in turn told us. Apparently, they're planning on going through with it. Tonight.'

'And you're telling us this because…?' Conner offered, raising a tentative eyebrow.

"Cause I thought it was something we could do in the meantime to keep ourselves distracted from that damned box. The League is all over it, so we need to be watching out for the rest of the world', she said, determination lit up in her eyes like a Las Vegas neon sign.

'Oh yes, that sounds most enjoyable! I will gladly go with you on this adventure', Starfire exclaimed with a beaming grin.

Kara shrugged, and let a small smile play on her lips. 'I'm in.'

They all looked expectantly to Conner, who just scoffed. 'It _was_ M'gann's idea. I really don't think I have a choice in the matter.'

Giggling, the Martian butted her boyfriend playfully, before gesturing to the change rooms. Connor followed suite, clinging to his beloved's side like a fly to a windshield. Kara was about to step after them when she saw Starfire standing back, an uncertain hand resting on her inner elbow. She walked up to the tall Tamaranian, bearing the biggest smile.

Looking up, she over-exaggerated the smile, showing off her pearly whites and twinkling blue eyes. Starfire made eye contact, her solid, glowing green eyes staring at the young Kryptonian.

''Sup, Star? Or am I not allowed to call you that? Is it just a Nightwing thing?' she said, quirking an eyebrow while bouncing on her toes.

'I do not know what 'sup' means, but I prefer it if Richard were the only one to call me 'Star'. I believe it is his nickname for me.' She sighed, and looked around. 'Have you seen Richard lately, Kara? He gifted me with a telee-phone, and told me that if I was ever the worried, I should call him on it. Is he in the telee-phone, Kara? Because I would like to call him and talk to him, for I am very much so the worried.'

Kara let out a silent groan. She'd only been on Earth for a month, but she already knew the culture almost as well as her own. 'Oi vie… 'Kay Kori, firstly, it's te _le_ phone, and secondly, call him! You don't need to be worried; from what Conner's told me, the guy is legendary, and more than capable of looking after himself. But if you are so worried that you're biting your lip till it bleeds, 'cause you are, then just call the guy! Check in on him.'

'Last thing I heard, Bar-Batgirl was planning on making a house call to him, straightening him out after he left the Team without a clue that he was okay', Kara said nonchalantly, not thinking much of her words.

Until she saw Kori stiffen. She knew that the two notorious, red-head badasses were on less than terrific terms, but she could see that her extra-terrestrial friend didn't just despise her. She was downright jealous. She envied the relationship and history that Richard Grayson and Barbara Gordon shared. From what everyone else had told Kara, Babs and Dick had known each other longer than anyone else on the Team, that they at over ten years of history together. They'd had their ups and downs, but they always came back to one another.

And suddenly, sweet, gorgeous Koriand'r is thrown in to the mix, and the somewhat steady balance is thrown off. She couldn't be more infatuated with Nightwing, and everyone could see that the former Boy Wonder was developing quite a crush on her too. So, in turn, all of this was pissing off Barbara, making the tension between the Gotham and Bludhaven vigilantes all too tight. Nightwing found a break in talking with Starfire, and after observing them, Kara could see that the Tamaranian treasured every moment spent with him. They were pretty adorable together, she admitted that, and she could see they had undisguisable chemistry.

But there was still Barbara at the back of Dick's mind. Everytime he reached for Kori's hand, he remembered how Babs would grab his hand like that at school dances. Everytime he slipped an arm around her shoulder, he'd be reminded of the early mornings, walking to school together. Everytime Kori leaned across to peck his cheek, he'd flashback to a blushing boy rubbing his cheek as a ginger girl giggled beside him. It held him back, stopped him from going too far. And that annoyed the living hell out of Starfire.

Kara sighed him a smile, resting a hand on her tall friend. 'Love triangles, huh? You love 'em, you hate 'em, you don't know what to do with them.'

She then patted her before lifting off the ground, racing off and speed-changing into her Supergirl uniform before rushing back to the astonished Starfire. Resting her hands against her gold belt that flowed down to the red skirt, she cocked her head at the Tamaranian.

'Come on, Starfire. Just forget about boys for a moment and think about the awesome mission ahead. Use this mission to clear your head, remember there are other things in life other than drop-dead gorgeous boys', she said, to which Starfire looked up in surprise.

Supergirl chuckled. 'Hey, I'm only female! A boy that looks like that would make _any_ girl weak in the knees. And yes, I basically am confessing to having a sort-of-crush on him *****. But whatever, I see you've already labelled him yours, so I'll stay back. Let you and Batgirl battle it out.'

Starfire blinked in surprise. 'O-okay. Um… shall we join Miss Martian and Superboy on the mission now? I think I will take the advice you gave, and I will clean through my head on the mission. I thank you, Kara.'

Supergirl smiled and begin hovering above the ground. 'Anytime, sister. Now, come one, let's just go already!'

With that, the two aliens flew off, meeting up with Superboy and Miss Martian. Starfire quickly forgot about her stress over Nightwing and focused her heart and head on the mission before them. Kara was right; there was so much more to life than boys, and right now, she was laughing and joking with friends, good friends, getting ready to take on the mission ahead. What was important right then was fighting for justice, fighting for the right thing. Pouring her heart and soul into making the world a better place, being a strong, independent woman. Boys could wait. She smirked. Just not for long.

 **HAPPY HARBOUR**

 **August 12, 21:35 EDT**

'Bart, truth or dare?'

Bart groaned, leaning back in his bean bag. 'Uh… Dare? Make sure it's crash, not stupid.'

The group, excluding Bart, giggled and discussed the fate of the fastest boy alive. He cringed as he watched Cassie's head pop up and she began snickering. He was not looking forward to this.

The group pulled apart, and Tim sat in the middle, arms crossed, smirk showing, glasses hiding the humour in his eyes. Bart pulled his legs up to his chest, buried his head in his knees and prayed to God that he'd disappear into thin air.

'We dare you to put on Cissie's costume, go out to find some crime, stop a mugger or something, _make sure they see you_ , and come back. By the way, Jaime's gonna be our eye-in-the-sky so we'll know if you cheat', the boy wonder said with the infamous bat-grin planted on his face, everyone else around him snickering and chortling.

Bart sighed and shook his head. 'Fine. Hand me the damn costume', he groaned, gesturing forward.

Looking down at it, he stood up and sighed, before speed-changing into the red hood, tank-top, skirt and converse. He glared at Tim and Jaime specifically as everyone burst into fits of laughter, curling over as they tried to contain themselves. Cissie started crying, and wiped her eyes, still grinning like an idiot. When she opened them, she saw that neither Jaime nor Bart were anywhere in sight.

She leaned back, sighing, before smiling across at Raven. The hooded girl puzzled her. She seemed like she could be tons of fun, but when it came down to it, she usually just sat there, scowling. Which was what she was doing in that moment. But this time, instead of scowling at just about anything, she had her eyes cast and narrowed at one particular thing. Or person.

Cissie pointed at her eyes and trailed them down her line of vision, and giggled when she realised who Raven was looking at very pointedly. Gar. Of course. The two of them were still on rough terms, and neither of them liked the other very much. However, on missions, the two of them worked incredibly well together, though neither of them admitted it. Or knew it.

'Hey! Cissie! You in there?' Cassie exclaimed, pulling Cissie out of her own little world by clicking in her face. 'It's your turn. Truth or dare?'

She shook her head in attempt to clear it. 'Oh, yeah right. Um… gimme truth.'

Cassie grinned, and spilled out in a rush, 'Cutest/Hottest guy in the Team. Your opinion. Now.'

The guys just shook their heads, whilst the girls edged so much closer, eagerly awaiting the blonde archer's response. She blinked in surprise and start chuckling.

'Seriously? I thought it'd be obvious. I thought we all shared the same opinion on the topic', she said, making the boys come closer, Tim going slightly to the left, closer to Cassie.

They all sat, waiting, leaning forward, with widened eyes and raised eyebrows. 'Nightwing.'

In that second, Bart and Jaime came rushing in, just in time to hear Cissie. They watched on in confusion as Tim raised an eyebrow at a blushing Cassie, shaking his head. Garfield's head fell, a half-serious frown on his face while the other girls slowly started nodding. And blushing. Furiously.

Bart changed out of the Arrowette outfit and Jaime morphed back into his civvies, before bringing his arms up, crossing them. 'Let me guess; it was truth, and you were asked who the best-looking guy on Team was?'

Cissie shrugged and cocked her head. 'Hey, they asked for the truth, I gave it. On every girl's behalf.'

Tim drew his attention away from his girlfriend and took it to the cheeky blonde. 'Care to list off some… traits that make my brother so… attractive to everyone?'

Ignoring the sharp shakes of girls' heads, Cissie perked up even more. 'Sure! Firstly, he's an acrobat. That should be reason enough, 'cause heck, he has muscles on his muscles. Then there's his face. Many of us haven't actually seen his eyes, but I'm sure they're just perfect. His jaw-line is like, perfect. Then there's his hair. Oh, my god, his hair. And his costume is just perfect, it honestly looks so good on him. And he's charming, which helps add the attractiveness, and talkative, and witty, and way too sexy 24/7-.'

'Okay, okay! TMI, just stop it!' Gar said, blocking his ears along with the other guys, while the girls giggled and blushed beetroot red.

Cissie's face fell. 'But you didn't even let me talk about who I 'ship' him with. Or about his butt-'

' _STOP_!' Tim yelled, cringing and curling up into a ball.

The girls continued laughing, and slowly, they all nodded in agreement at Cissie's words. After five solid minutes of laughing, the young blonde wiped the tears from her eyes. Looking around at her friends, she saw Cassie grinning as she reassured Tim that _he_ was her favourite, whilst he squinted his eyes shut, apparently trying exceptionally hard to erase a mental image from his mind. Jaime, Bart and Gar were all smirking at one another, obviously plotting their next truths and dares for upcoming victims. Raven and Donna were quietly looking on, occasionally saying a few indistinct words to one another, smiling as they chatted.

Cissie smiled in spite of herself. Ecstasy didn't even begin to describe how she felt when she with these amazing people. She'd always struggled with friends, with going to a small, public school in one of Star City's dirtier suburbs. Her parents had wanted to send her to a private school, one that would judge her based on her brain and actions, not on her family and appearance, but they just couldn't afford it. Being the daughter of a nitty-gritty scientist had its perks here and there. She got excellent grades, and most of her teachers loved her enthusiasm to her studies. They saw a bright, young girl with an incredible future ahead of her. Her classmates, however, saw a nerdy nine-year-old, one whose parents were 'crazy scientists'.

Cissie knew they were just incredibly passionate about their work, but she had just wished they weren't so public with it. It made her subject to bullying, tormenting, criticism from her cohort. And one night she took out the anger she had built up on her parents. She remembered screaming her absolute head off at them, she remembered her mother drawing back, tears welling in her eyes. She remembered her father trying to reason with her, get her to calm down and just tell them what had happened, but 13-year-old Cissie wasn't having any of it. She left them with three painful words before storming off to her room. 'I hate you'.

The next night, her mother was kidnapped by the League of Shadows. They used her, made her design and create advanced hacking and weaponry systems. Those two weeks where they heard nothing from her, all Cissie's father did was console her. Told her that mommy would be home soon. Their family had always been targeted by the League of Shadows, the first time being when Cissie was merely eight years old. Black Spider had snatched her father from her, and he would've died, had it not been for Green Arrow and Artemis. Ollie and Arty. Since then, she'd admired the two heroes like other girls her age admired Selena Gomez.

In those two weeks, she watched Team Arrow search day and night for her mother, until they finally found her. Hanging by her neck off the top of a mountain precipice.

Her father didn't come to the funeral. He couldn't handle seeing his beloved's body lying lifelessly in a coffin. Billionaire Oliver Queen decided to stand beside her, with Artemis lingering close by. After the ceremony, Cissie had choked out with a rage filled voice that she wanted them to pay. She wanted them to suffer terribly. Artemis had been the one to lay a hand on her shoulder, and not look down at her with sympathy, but with understanding. She told her she knew that feeling of anger more than anything, but she needed to control it.

So, with a little training here and there, and a few bruises too, the Arrowette was born. The uniform was based on drawings her mother had done when she was younger, when she'd dreamed of helping their crime-stricken city. Now, whenever Cissie was out in the world, defending the innocent or beating up baddies, she could feel her mother's angelic presence beside her.

She was pulled back into reality by raucous laughing. Looking over, she could see Beast Boy blushing heavily as he let Donna brush him. While he was transformed into an Afghan hound. She joined in the laughter at the spectacle.

Once everyone had calmed down, Gar looked to Raven, mischief glimmering in his emerald eyes. 'Truth or dare, Rae?'

She shrugged carelessly. 'Eh, truth.'

'Can you name at least one thing you like about me? Just one? I want to see if you can', he challenged, smirking like an idiot.

She tilted her head in thought, and sat for a moment, letting your brain rack through information. 'Well… you're loyal. To your friends, to your Team, to the mission. No matter what's happening to you in the moment, you'll help everyone else who has issues before yourself. And it's very admirable. So… yeah. I like the fact that you're loyal.'

Everyone blinked in shock at what she'd just said, and Gar had a cheeky grin on his face. 'Heh, noted. Knew you liked _something_ about me.'

Raven smirked. 'Don't let it go to your head, or anything.'

 **GOTHAM CITY**

 **August 21, 00:58 EST**

Robin could feel yet another yawn coming on as he sat by a gargoyle looming over the strangely quiet streets of Gotham City. Babs had a paper due the next day, and Bruce had decided to let the busy, young woman have a rare night off, using that time to finalise her assignment. Which obviously meant that it was Tim who went on patrol with the Brooding Bat that night.

'Was that an attempt to stifle a yawn, I heard, Master Timothy?' Alfred's monotonous, extremely British voice said through his intercom.

He smirked. 'Maybe, Butler', he replied, careful to use his codename. 'Or maybe it's my body saying that if it has yet another 4-hour sleep, it'll collapse.'

'Don't even try, Robin', Batman warned through the com, yet with the hint of a smile. 'Nightwing got away with that one too many times. Besides, your school's closed for maintenance tomorrow, so we may not even get back until 3 AM. Depends how eventful our patrol is.'

Robin groaned, feeling the impending sense of boredom finally set in. He'd been on his post now for fifty-three, no, fifty- _four_ minutes, and his joints were starting to get stiff from squatting. He prayed to the Bat God above him that the streets and alleyways would continue to remain quiet, long enough for him to go home, slip into his pyjamas and hit the sack.

'Batman to Robin, hooded figure spotted running down an alleyway at the corner of 14th and Bullock.'

 _Well, screw you, Bat-God_ , Robin thought to himself as he pulled out his grappling gun. _And here I thought you and I were pals._

'Acknowledged, Batman. Be there in five.'

* * *

Arriving silently at the scene, he made his way to his mentor's side. Batman turned to nod at him before pointing at the situation below them. Peering over the ledge of a two-storey building, Robin could see a mugger with a gun pointed at a young man's temple. Typical Gotham. Yet what wasn't typical was the hooded figure standing across from the two men, hand raised tentatively. Robin quirked an eyebrow. Antihero? Vigilante? _Hero?_

The young man winced as the mugger pushed the gun closer to him. 'S-stay back. I will s-shoot him!'

The mysterious figure stayed where they were, yet kept their reaching hand up and forward. 'I don't doubt that. But s'okay, buddy. Both of you. I'm not going anywhere.'

Robin looked to Batman in surprise, putting his binoculars down. 'A girl?'

'Sounds like it', the Dark Knight said, narrowing his eyes. 'Probably around the same age as you. Let's see what she does. Be prepared, though, Robin.'

'Always', the Boy Wonder replied, taking back his visual aid.

Down below them, the hooded girl maintained her position. 'I think I know why you believe you need to do this. You're scared of something. That's totally understandable and I totally get it. But this man, this _kid_ , is innocent. You have a family, right? Or a best friend? Maybe a gold fish? 'Cause I can imagine that this guy does too, and if he doesn't go home tonight, they're probably gonna be pretty pissed. Just pass me the gun, and we can all walk away from this unharmed.'

The mugger eyed her hand off temporarily before lifting his gaze back up to her face, grimacing at her.

She sighed and shook her head. 'Buddy, I'm gonna be honest; that wasn't the smartest move.'

Batman, Robin and the mugger's eyebrows shot to the sky in surprise as she sprung effortlessly into the air, flipped and catapulted her foot square into the criminal's face. He released his victim in shock, and went barrelling backwards. Robin felt a small smile land on his lips as she landed perfectly balanced beside the young man. She knelt down and passed him his wallet before helping him up.

'You right there? Quite an adventure for a Sunday night.'

He shakily found his footing. 'Y-yeah. I'm n-never going out a-alone ever again, though.'

Even though he couldn't see her face, Robin knew the girl was smiling. 'It'll take a while for the shock to pass, but you should be alright. 'Scuse me a moment.'

She quickly ran over to the mugger, whipped out a pair of hands cuffs and secured him to a post. Both Robin and Batman were surprised to see her reach for her belt, which appeared to be one of utility. Opening one of the pockets, she pulled out a lollipop of all things and stuck it in the mugger's mouth. Robin rushed his hands up to his mouth, praying that he wouldn't scoff or laugh.

'Okay, someone should be around to pick you up soon, kay? Whether it's the fuzz or Bats, well, that's determined by how kind Fate is feelin' today.'

With that, she left the squirming, angry mugger behind and helped the young man. She gave him a pat on the shoulder, a piece of paper containing information should he ever be in trouble again, and encouraged him to report what had happened to the police. All ticks in Rob's book.

As the young man started to head off, Batman gestured to Robin to make his way down there. To talk to the girl.

'What?' the young, black-haired boy whispered. 'Why me?'

'Because she's more or less likely to go into defensive mode if an old, angry bat goes down there instead of a young, relatively good-looking boy. She'll probably react better to you. Go down and talk to her', he instructed, keeping his eyes trained on the hooded girl.

Robin sighed and put his binoculars away, getting ready to jump down. 'Yes, Boss-man.'

He then bent his legs and sprung into the air, doing a front flip as he tumbled down to the ground. Landing in a crouch, he looked up to see the girl standing sassily in front of him. In the better light, he saw she wore dusty purple, full-body attire, topped with dark grey gloves, boots and utility belt. Her face was still completely concealed from light. He stood up, yet maintained his position. _Please let Nightwing's training pay off_.

'Hey there', he greeted in a very nonchalant matter.

She crossed her arms. 'Hey, yourself. Robin, right?'

 _Like she doesn't already know who I am_. _Whatever, I'll play along_. 'That's right. I saw you handle that situation. Have to admit, I'm impressed.'

'Okay, um _thanks_ , but I don't need your advice or whatever, if that's what you're gonna dish out to me', she scoffed.

Robin forced a chuckle to hide his surprise. So she was confident? Nothing wrong with that… 'Nope, I literally just came to tell you that I was impressed.'

'You did? Or did Daddy Bats up above send you?' she said with a knowing smirk, one that Robin knew she wore even with the hood.

 _Oh she's good_ , Robin thought, careful not to look behind him to his foster father. 'Eh, he watches my back just in case young girls try to stab me while I'm chatting them up.'

She chuckled, to which the young Boy Wonder mentally high-fived himself. 'Well hate to break it to you, but I don't have a knife on me. Got a baton, though, so I guess you're still unsafe.'

'Yikes', he cringed jokingly. 'By the way, are you a vigilante or something? I'm just curious.'

'I'm something', she joked. 'Well, I'm someone.'

He laughed. 'Right, of course.'

They stood in content silence for a few moments, before the girl stretched up her arms and yawned. 'Well, I'd love to stay and chat, Bird-Brain, but I've got school in the morning, and should really get going.'

He nodded and smiled. 'Yeah, me too. Guess I'll see you round.'

She looked behind her shoulder, a grin clear in her voice. 'Guess you will.'

Just as she got ready to run off, however, Robin realised something. He hadn't even asked for her name. She may not give it, but he still had to try.

'Wait!' he yelled, running to catch up to her. 'What's your name?'

She chuckled. 'Seriously? Aren't you supposed to be the kid of the World's Greatest Detective? Shouldn't you be able to figure that out for yourself?'

'Probably, but I think it's more polite to ask', he replied with a smile.

She raised a tentative, gloved finger up to her face, and appeared to be tapping her lips, pondering over telling him. 'Hmm, nah. I'm not gonna make it easy for you. And I ain't no spoiler.'

With that, she took off into the night, leaping onto to external staircases and making her way onto rooftops. Robin felt a smirk crawl onto his face, and he crossed his arms as he watched the young girl gracefully flip from bar to bar, push off of staircases and swing from poles.

'Spoiler, huh?' he breathed out, before pulling out his grappling gun and landing on the roof, beside Batman. He looked to his surrogate father and gave a thumbs-up. Gotham's superhero population seemed to get larger every day. And now, they had yet another vigilante to add to the mix. Robin smiled in spite of himself. God, he loved his city.

* * *

 **Not sure about the ending, but meh. I'm tired and need sleep, but it's the weekend so yay!**

 **Holy shizen, this chapter was looooooooooooooooooooooong. But now it's done! Yay! Btw, if you guys could let me know what/who you'd like to see in the next chapter, that'd be awesome :)**

 **beware, A MAJOR EVENT is on the horizon, and I'm hoping you guys will lose your shit.**

 **...**

 ***- paying homage to comics, where supergirl has a SERIOUS crush on nightwing at one point.**

* * *

 **QUESTION OF THE CHAPTER: Favourite villain?**

 **Lex Luthor? Darkseid? Joker? Cheetah? Etc….**

* * *

 **Remember to Review, Follow and Favourite xx**

 **Much love,**

 **~SpitfireWestAllen15**


	8. Chapter 7: Inevitability

**AUTHOR NOTE: Heyyyyyyyyyyyy guys! :P**

 **So, this is quite an emotional, dark chapter, but I promise next one will be lightened up a lot more (including some SuperMartian, as requested by Black' Victor Cachat)**

 **Holy SHIT, though, you guys. YJ SEASON 3 WILL PROBABLY HAPPEN AHHHHHHHHHHHH NERDGASM! The Showrunner has stated that he already had plans ready to go for Season 3, and for most of SEASON 4 TOO! The actresses who voiced Artemis and M'gann posted a pic on Instagram the other day of them holding up a 'three' with their fingers and the caption was something like:**

 **#bringbackyoungjustice or something. SO LOTS OF PEOPLE ARE PRETTY KEEN YOU GUYS! WE MIGHT ACTUALLY BE WATCHING SEASON 3 EPISODE 1 OF YOUNG JUSTICE IN A FEW MONTHS! *starts crying***

* * *

 **Was listening to "Coming Home" by Skylar Grey when I was writing the first bit, so… yea. Feels were ducking real. Yes, that was an intentional 'ducking'.**

 **FOR TRAUGHT FANS: I** ** _think_** **I have something ahead you lot might like. Personally, I view them as best friends that get a bit too flirty at times, that's my ideal traught. But… yeah, hopefully this will partially satisfy your Traught feels :)**

 **Without further ado, CHAPTER 7!**

* * *

 **Chapter 7: Inevitability**

 **THE WATCHTOWER**

 **August 28, 03:26 EDT**

Artemis could feel her body nagging at her, begging her for sleep. Her eyes were fluttering in the dim light and her fingers were doing the weird twitch thing they did just before she went to sleep. She'd had that twitch ever since Wally… hadn't come home. She had become accustomed to having his hand in her own, one of her legs hooked behind one of his, her head resting comfortably in the crook of his neck. She sighed. Rupert, her gorgeous dog, had been a somewhat substitute, filling Wally's side of the bed with his large, grey mass. He too gave her a goodnight kiss before slipping into dreamland, even though it was on the slobbery side.

Except Wally never left her. He'd stay with her all night, no matter what. Rupert tended to get up and go for walks during the night, sometimes going to sleep on the couch, leaving Artemis alone in her bed. Her large, unoccupied bed.

She kept telling herself it was stupid. It was absolutely stupid, and she needed to get over him. But she couldn't. No matter what she did, she could never get over her Wall-man, her Baywatch. Her Spitfire. She felt bare, exposed, and vulnerable without him. She'd felt that way for over a year, and she didn't know how to fix it. And sitting there, in the League's personal cemetery, in front of Wally's towering, heavenly figure, she had never felt more vulnerable.

Thankfully, basically no one was in the Watchtower at that hour, so she allowed herself to feel that vulnerability, allowed it to show. Her knees were brought up to her chest, her arms wrapping protectively around her legs. She looked up at him, his determined, serious face. He looked so god-like, so powerful, so awe-inspiring. She almost believed that crap, and kicked herself for it. Though he'd appeared that way, Wally had just been a man. A gorgeous, yet plain, man. She could feel tears welling in her eyes, and her vision began to blur.

It was just so unfair. Why had it been Wally? Why did it have to be Wally who had to be a selfless idiot and sacrifice himself to save the world? She sniffled, and wiped away the tears that had begun to fall. She'd have given anything just to see him one more time. She'd have given away a happy life just to see his stunning smile again. She'd have laid down her whole life in an instance just to hold him. Just one more time…

Artemis bolted up straight as she heard footsteps approaching. She wiped her face once more and looked around to see someone. Someone who was one of the few people who still had the power to make her genuinely happy.

'Hey Art. Thought you might be getting cold, so I got you a blanket', Dick said, handing her the soft item.

She managed a smile up at him. 'Thanks Dick', she murmured, gesturing to the spot next to her.

He smiled and sat down close to her, his cargo pants rubbing against her bare legs. It was the one time the blonde archer had opted to a dress; it was the bottle-green, open-shouldered sundress that Wally had given her for her last birthday. The last one they'd celebrated together.

Dick took off his dark glasses and laid them down on the other side. Both of them stared up at Wally's frame, thoughts running through their heads.

Artemis was surprised to hear Dick scoff. Looking over to him, she saw had a sad smile implanted on his face.

'What?' she whispered, looking confusedly at her male best friend.

'Just the fact he was basically never that serious on missions. He was always the 'class clown' of the Team', he reminisced, before sighing. 'He was the one who always seemed to keep his humanity, even when the rest of us lost it and turned into psychos and sociopaths.'

Artemis could see tears building in the younger man's eyes, and laid a hand down across his own. He looked down at it before glancing back up at her. The amount of emotion in the crystal blue orbs that were his eyes was immense. It was so intense, yet so bare. He looked like he could take on a seven nation army with his bare hands, yet he looked like he couldn't even raise his hand to answer a question in class. He looked so full of rage, so fierce, yet at the same time, Artemis saw the scared, young boy from all those years ago you looked to her for comfort every minute of his disparity.

She wrapped an arm around his neck, another round his middle and brought him towards her embrace. He clutched back, wrapping both of his arms around her torso. She could feel her shoulder getting damp with his salty tears, and she allowed herself to follow, and started crying into his. They started off as small sobs, but it quickly turned to body-racking cries. Artemis clenched her teeth and squeezed her eyes shut, letting the tears flow like a river into a waterfall.

They sat in silence, letting their cries be the only sound they made for five solid minutes. Pulling apart, they just stared at one another. They looked at one another with empathy, a sense of understanding in the loss they were still grieving over.

Artemis' grey eyes flicked between Dick's blue ones. 'I know what you're thinking, Dick. And I won't allow it. Don't you ever think something like that for even a moment.'

'Why not, Artemis?' he whispered, his eyebrows making an upside-down V. 'It's true. It's my fault that Wally isn't here. I basically sent him to his death the moment I asked you to go undercover.'

'Shut up, right now', she hissed, tears still fresh in her eyes. 'It's _not your fault_. It never was. If Wally heard you talking right now, he'd tell you the same thing. You know that.'

Dick looked away and dragged a hand down his blotchy face, leaving it to rest over his mouth and chin. He shook his head. 'I-I never got t-to apologize. I n-never told him-'

Dick's eyes widened as Artemis grabbed his hand with one of her own, letting the other take his chin in her hands, forcing him to look at her. 'Dick, he knows. He knows.'

He looked into her grey eyes, locking his with hers. 'You calmed down better than I did.'

'I learnt from the best', she whispered with a sad smile. 'Remember? Get traught-'

'Or get dead', he finished with a small smirk.

They smiled at one another, looking into each other's eyes. It was a gorgeous picture: two lost souls, sitting on the ground looking at one another with some sort of mutual understanding, with a picturesque background behind them of stars twinkling in the sky and Earth peering over the ledge to peek. Many would've thought it was a romantic situation, that they were young lovers, when the truth was that they were just the best of friends, and had become so over the years. They trusted each other with their lives and would give anything for the other.

They stayed that way for a few moments before flicking their attention back to 'Wally'.

Dick, with his eyes still focused on the hologram in front, leaned to his right toward Artemis. 'Remember how he could fit a whole slice of cake in his mouth?'

She chuckled. 'How could anyone forget that?'

'And the flirting with M'gann at the start?' he snorted.

Artemis laughed. 'My god, he was such an idiot…'

Dick nodded in agreement, and paused for a moment before speaking up again. 'Art? Do you believe in the afterlife?'

She blinked in surprise at his spontaneous question. 'Um… I don't know… I guess I do. I'm not saying I believe in 'the God' or anything, but I believe there's _something_ after this. I just don't know what. Why you ask?'

He shrugged, keeping his eyes focused on his dead best friend. 'Just thinking out loud. Wondering about what I'll do or what I'll say when I see him. Do you reckon he'll have forgiven me by then?'

'Dick', Artemis said with a smile, resting a hand on his shoulder and squeezing it gently. 'He already has. He's Wally! Knowing him, he's probably up there watching us, laughing at how stupid we're being. He'd want us to forget the shit stuff, remember the good stuff, and live our lives.'

'You should take a page out of your own book, Miss Crock', Dick snorted.

She raised an eyebrow. 'Meaning?'

'I saw how you were eying off that Grant guy at Gotham College. He was looking at you the same way, but as soon as you realised that, you looked away and kept walking. You feel like if you allow yourself to fall in love again and have a life, you'll somehow be betraying Wally. But you aren't. Like you said, Wally would want you to life your life to the fullest. That includes finding love again', Dick said empathetically, giving her that smile that had won the hearts of thousands of girls.

'Dick Grayson', she said shaking her head with a small smile, 'you romantic, you. Where's that ladies' man persona that always seems to find you no matter where you are?'

He shrugged. 'He took a holiday. I let him have a week off, though I might need to call him back early.'

Artemis looked at with a smirk. 'Or maybe… he got scared away.'

'Oh yeah? By who?' Dick scoffed.

'A certain Miss Barbara Gordon', she replied, raising an eyebrow.

Dick then did something he didn't do often, something anyone rarely saw. He blushed. 'I, uh…' he cleared his throat. 'Um, I-I…'

Artemis looked at him with a very satisfied smile on her face, before letting her smile slowly grow until it was a freakish grin. 'I can't believe I did it. I made _the_ Richard Grayson, _the_ Nightwing blush! There has to be a prize for that.'

He chuckled, still glowing beetroot red. 'Yeah, my congratulations… and to answer your theory… well, I'm in a bit of a predicament.'

'How do you mean?'

'Babs: yes, she's brilliant, she's stunning, she's kind, she's compassionate, she's strong and just about the most amazing person I've ever met-'

Artemis sensed a 'but' coming. 'But now there's Kori.'

Her shoulders slumped at the mention of Starfire. 'Oh.'

'Yeah', he breathed out. 'The time that I was away, I spent a lot of time with her. And she's amazing. She's exciting, she's new… I've never known anyone like her.'

Artemis wanted to lose her shit at her friend, tell him that he was being stupid and that Babs was the only one for him, but she listened in, curious to hear what he would say. 'Okay, maybe that's because she's an alien from a world we didn't even know existed until a short while ago.'

Dick shook his head. 'No… it's just, she's so open and honest. She doesn't keep anything from me. Anything. Maybe that's why I like her so much. She's everything I'm not, everything I want to be. I honestly love Babs, but sometimes I wonder if we've kept way too many secrets from each other to make something more of our relationship.'

She nodded in somewhat understanding. 'Okay... look, I can't really make this decision for you or help in any way, 'cause I know that's what's going through your head. But I'll tell you this: listen to your heart. Cheesy as anything, I know, but there's nothing better that you can do.'

'Thanks, Art', he said with a small smile. She was right; it was the simplest and most obvious thing she could've said, but he appreciated her concern.

They turned back to Wally and sat in silence, each playing over memories of the red-haired speedster in their minds. The stars sprinkled the hologram like a piece of art, like he was covered in a light coat of sugar. Neither Artemis nor Dick could help the smiles that crawled onto their faces as they reminisced about him, flicking back to their youth where they would tease one another, make fun of one another, laugh with each other, cry with each other. Care about each other. Those had been the glory days, and even if it were just for a moment, both Gothamites allowed themselves to recall those days of simplicity.

Their eyelids started to droop, yet neither showed any indication of getting up at any point. Slowly, Artemis laid herself down onto the ground, wrapping the blanket around her curled body. Dick stretched with a yawn before following suite, lying down beside her, their faces side by side. Sleep overcame them in a matter of minutes, and they drifted off into Dreamland. If anyone had walked in, they would've surely sighed at the sight of the bittersweet picture. For in a sense, the Golden Trio had been reunited.

 **TAIPEI**

 **August 29, 21:03 TTZ**

 _'Link established. Everyone, acknowledge that you hear me.'_

 _'Robin: online.'_

 _'Wonder Girl: online.'_

 _'Blue Beetle: online.'_

 _'Starfire: the online. May I just say how strange this is? I can hear_ everyone's _thoughts in my mind!'_

Miss Martian let out a silent sigh before turning to her team. It was an interesting one: they had a combination of both stealth and strength, and this particular squad had never been on a mission together. She was praying that Robin was as sensible as Nightwing, maybe even more so, and that he didn't use this time to fraternise with Wonder Girl, and vice versa. Blue Beetle wasn't too much of a problem, she just hoped that the scarab wouldn't be a pig and annoy him on the mission.

It was also Starfire's first real mission. Miss Martian loved the sweet Tamaranian, but she was pretty oblivious. She hoped and prayed that she was a 'shoot first, ask questions later' type of gal, and that she would hold on out pondering over the mission, and just obey instructions.

Miss Martian furrowed her eyebrows and rested her hands on her hips. _'Okay, Alpha Squad, listen up. As most of us know, Black Spider is an operative of the League of Shadows. He is to be considered armed and dangerous. He was sighted here in Taipei two nights ago at 9:39pm.'_

Wonder Girl scoffed. _'Time precision outta ten.'_

 _'Indeed, Cass_ ', she replied with a roll of her eyes. _'Anyway, Nightwing wants us to investigate just what B.S. is doing here, and to take him in for questioning. Our mission is to track him down, make his capture as discrete as possible, and do as I said before.'_ She turned to each of her Teammates. _'Robin, I want you to help me locate Spider's current location, and be in charge of security tampering when needed. Wonder Girl, you've proved in the last few months that your stealth skills have improved significantly, so you'll stationed with Robin and if it comes down to it, will be our not-so-secret weapon. I'm putting a lot of faith in you two to stay on task, remember that.'_

After the young couple blushed furiously while sneaking smiles at one another, Blue Beetle and Starfire went up to their leader. _'Right. Blue, I'll need you to see if that scarab of yours can find any extra-terrestrial and unordinary activity in the vicinity. I want to find out if Black Spider's connection to the Shadows is also a link to information about the box. And finally Starfire. As this is your first proper mission, you will stay beside me throughout the course of it, and should violence and force be necessary, I'll take you out from underneath my invisibility shield.'_

Starfire stepped forward and opened her mouth to speak, before quickly shutting it. _'I mean, I do not want to seem disrespectful, Miss Martian, but I am a warrior. I have been training to fight for the entire course of my life. I am not meant to sit on the side-line while there is a battle to be fought.'_

Feeling sympathetic for the fellow alien, Miss Martian laid a hand on her shoulder and looked up into her glowing green eyes. _'I know, Kori. I know that you must be itching to dish out a beat-up, but being a part of this Team means that sometimes, we do have to have a more subtle approach to villainy and evil in the world. You'll get your chance to let all hell loose soon, I'm sure of it.'_

 _'I-I guess I see your point, Miss Martian',_ Starfire thought with a scratch of the back of her head. _'My deepest gratitude is expressed for your words of wisdom.'_

Miss Martian smiled at the quirky Tamaranian. _'Any time, Starfire.'_

Turning back to the rest of Alpha Squad, Miss Martian gave a thumbs-up and raised eyebrow is questioning. Once they all responded with either a nod or return of hand gesture, their leader gave a solid nod, and they began.

* * *

'Can't believe she doesn't trust us to be responsible! Especially on an important mission!' Wonder Girl hissed out in a whisper to her partner, Robin.

They were currently overlooking a building Miss Martian had sensed to have occupied Spider at one point. The blonde teen, who'd been on lookout, standing on the ledge with her hands on her hips, let out a yelp as she was pulled back down by a surprisingly strong arm. She landed on a lap and turned to see a smirking Robin, with one hand around her and the other holding binoculars.

'Maybe it's 'cause we're us', he whispered back nonchalantly, lowering her to crouch beside him. 'By the way, 'stealth-mode' mean anything to you?'

Letting out a groan, she tapped her chest, letting the darker changes to her uniform take place. 'Sorry _Mom_ , but we've kinda been here on our post for, I dunno, _two hours_?! I'm kinda getting a bit restless, and you're lying if you say you aren't, either.'

He shrugged, keeping his focus through the visual aid. 'We have orders. Besides, sometimes those boring or unappealing jobs can have a hidden silver lining.'

Wonder Girl brushed off the comment at first, but then realised a sly blush creeping onto her boyfriend's face. She narrowed her eyes and pursed her lips, leaning towards him.

'What did you do…?' she whispered, accusation thick in her voice with a hint of humour.

'Cass, this is _exactly_ why Miss M doesn't trust us. Focus', he whispered back with the blush still implanted on his cheeks.

Now she was _really_ getting suspicious. 'Okay seriously, what did you do?'

'Later', he bit back.

'Tell me now, Rob, 'cause I'd rather you be honest with me now. Don't make me compel you with my Lasso of Truth.'

'Cassie-'

'Just _tell_ me and I'll leave you alo-'

' _Wonder Girl_!' he hissed, startling his girlfriend. Looking away from his binoculars, he shot her a very pointed glare. 'Just _shut up_. Right now, we have to follow B.S. and stop _this_ BS. We're on a mission; freaking act like you know what that means.'

Wonder Girl blinked in shock. Neither Tim nor Robin lashed out at her often, and they'd never done it on such small pretences.

'… Okay', she breathed out, still getting over the surprise. 'We'll talk later, then... I'm sorry I upset you.'

She was even more astounded when he merely grunted in recognition, turning his focus back on the building in front. It was a Taiwanese law firm, and a grand one at that. So far, it had all been quiet, just a few late-night walkers and partiers going to and fro along the street. The firm had been closed for a good 83 minutes, so no one and nothing had gone in or out. Until just then.

Robin narrowed his eyes and focused the binoculars better on the dark, cloaked figure making their way up the steps of the building. They looked around briefly, which the Boy Wonder used to his advantage, letting the photographic chip inside the binoculars snap a pic. He lowered them and pressed two buttons on his impairment and his glove-computer. The image loaded onto the blue holograph and he enhanced it.

'There you are', he whispered.

Cassie leaned across beside him, her breath tickling his neck as she studied the face. 'But that's… Lex Luthor… I know he's their leader or whatever and he's running for President back home, but what's he doing sneaking into a law firm?'

'Let's find out', Robin whispered.

 _'Miss M? Are you in range?'_

 _'Yes, Robin. Something you want to just address to me or the whole squad?'_

 _'Everyone can it hear it, I reckon.'_

A moment later, the Martian's voice came back through. _'Go ahead, Robin.'_

 _'Okay everyone, Wonder Girl and I are currently in the general vicinity of Lex Luthor, who just walked into a law firm. He was going in rather secretively, wearing a cloak and watching his back. Sending our current location now'_ , he said as he pressed another button on his glove. _'Obviously it's your call, Miss M, but I think it's best if we all go check it out.'_

 _'Good idea. Everyone right to meet at Robin and WG's coordinates?'_

 _'Fine by me, Esé.'_

 _'Also the fine with me, Miss Martian.'_

 _'Awesome. See you all there soon.'_

* * *

Miss Martian took off her hood and looked to her Squad. _'So we all know the plan?'_

Robin, Wonder Girl and Blue Beetle nodded, while Starfire looked somewhat uneasy, raising her hand tentatively. _'Just to clarify on my position in the crusade: I stay hidden with you until my powers are deemed necessary for the battle?'_

 _'That's right, Starfire'_ , Miss Martian nodded. _'If that's all, are we good to go?'_

In turn, the rest of them gave a nod and confident smile. Their leader smirked, narrowed her eyes and pulled over her cloak, becoming invisible. She turned and stared at the building entrance.

 _'Luthor and Black Spider aren't gonna know what hit 'em.'_

She raised her hand out to the side and Starfire tall figure soon disappeared under their watchful eyes. They vaguely saw her lift off the ground and fly over to the firm, a swift, silent angel in the dead of night. Blue Beetle gave a wink and nod to the other two remaining teammates and flew up, making his way over to the top of building as the guard.

Wonder Girl looked to her boyfriend and raised her eyebrows. _'Ready?'_

 _'Born that way'_ , he replied, his dominoed eyes coming in to a squint. With that, the two took off running, running after their friends, running away from the previous argument. Cassie was still trying to shake it out of her head; it had really left her stirred. Looking to her oh-so-serious partner, she saw his lips were pursing into a grimace. She knew she'd have to leave it be for now, but she couldn't help but worry for him. Because that's what you do when you love someone; you never stop worrying about them.

Leaping up the flight of stairs in one bound, Robin pressed his back to the wall close to the entrance, urging Wonder Girl to follow his lead. She flew over to the opposite side and looked at the door, blue eyes widening in apprehension. The two teens made eye contact, and Robin saw how busy and occupied the mind of his girlfriend was. He gave her a tight, sympathetic smile which Wonder Girl returned. They then nodded, and whilst Robin moved around to the door to unlock it, the blonde Amazon stood protectively in front of her slouched over tech-boy, keeping her eyes peeled.

 _'Got it'_ , he said as he finished picking the lock. Opening it up, he let her in first, being the gentleman that he was.

 _'You know, I could've just used my bobby-pin. Would've been ten times faster',_ Wonder Girl thought as she walked, turning her head to stare at Robin.

The Boy Wonder let out a small scoff and shook his head. Suddenly his eyes widened instantly, his teeth clenched and he rushed an arm in front of the girl, pulling her back into him. Closing her eyes as the surprising act, she opened them to see Robin giving her a disappointed look. He let her stand and pointed at the ground in front of them. After seeing her quirk an eyebrow, he rolled his eyes behind the mask, knelt down and pulled out small spray from his utility belt. Pressing down on the dispenser, a light mist came out and glowing red lines were slowly revealed in front of them.

Robin looked at her with crossed arms while Wonder Girl looked as though she'd just seen a ghost. _'Oh.'_

 _'Uh, yeah',_ he nodded.

They both jumped as they heard, _'Guys? This is adorable, but shut up, please. Miss M feels like she's about to blow her top.'_

 _'It's true. I'm getting fairly annoyed, and remember that faith I told you I'd placed in you? It's slowly slipping out the win-_ ahhh!'

 _'Oh My Glorgnoff, Miss Martian!'_

Wonder Girl and Robin looked to each other in nervousness. _'Miss M? It's Wonder Girl, can you hear me? Are you okay?!'_

 _'Ugh, oh God… it's, it's Black Spider. Second floor… t-third room on the le-eft…'_

The two teens had begun racing up the stairs even before Miss Martian's voice cut off. Making their way to the third room, Robin whipped out his bo staff and Wonder Girl clenched her fists, standing in a ready stance. The black-haired teen nodded to the super-powered girl, and with an audible _hyaah!_ , she kicked down the door.

'Oh crap', she breathed out as she saw Black Spider towering a limp Miss Martian. Starfire knelt beside her, frozen to her spot as she looked at the fallen leader in horror. Wonder Girl looked to Robin, rage and determination swirling through her light blue orbs as she asked a silent question.

'Go for it', he hissed out with the most almighty Bat-glare seeping through his mask. With that, the Wonder Woman protégé leapt into the air and with a yell, let her right elbow crash into the assassin's side, barrelling him over.

Robin watched for a mere second before jumping to his leader's side. Kneeling down, he tapped his index finger with his thumb, and a torchlight came through it, finally able to locate what had left the Martian lying unconscious on the floor. He looked up to see Starfire getting up, angry green eyes glowing, lighting up the room. Just before she jumped into the fight, he said, 'Wait.'

She looked back down at him, anger evident all over her. 'What is it, Robin?! I need to avenge Miss Martian.'

'She's not dead', he corrected, somehow staying calm. 'Just tell me what happened, Starfire. Wonder Girl has this under control. Right now, you need to help me help Miss M.'

'What did Black Spider do to her?' he asked as he kept searching her clothed body, waiting for Starfire to sit back down.

She shook her head. 'I still do not know, but we were looking through this strange room, when Miss Martian made a distressing noise. I looked around to see the Black Spider with his hand at her side. Miss Martian looked as though she had just been bitten by a Flarnop and showed signs of the pain.'

Robin could feel his heart thumping in his chest. 'Which side?'

'The uh… this side', she gestured to her left hip.

He immediately flashed his finger torch over and peered at her dark clothing. His breath hitched as he realised that dark crimson was mixed in with the navy.

'Shit.'

He thought for a moment before ripping off his cape and wrapping it around her tightly. He lifted her up and handed her to Starfire. 'Take her to the Bioship, contact the Watchtower and let them know that she's hurt.'

'Of course, Robin', she nodded, before flying off and out of the room with the injured, limp Martian.

He looked to where they'd gone, his eyebrows arching. 'Hang in there, M'gann.'

'Robin, look out!'

He whipped his head around to see Black Spider extending his hand and letting out a web. The Boy Wonder went to duck, but it was too late as the sticky substance connected with his chest. He looked up from where it had made contact and clenched his teeth as he got pulled off his feet, hurdling toward the black assassin. Black Spider had his free hand outstretched, and Robin could faintly see his fingertips were now at a very definite point. The assassin grinned menacingly as the teen hit his free hand and waited for the scream of pain.

' _Oomph!_ ' Robin exclaimed the wind was knocked out of him.

He pulled his free hand away, looked at incredulously before attempting to swipe at the immobilised Boy Wonder, his suit giving off sparks every time they hit. 'Well that was unexpected. Thought this was sharp enough to pierce Kryptonian skin, so why isn't it piercing a mere, human kid?'

Robin grinned and grunted out, 'One word, buddy.'

He then lifted a very flexible leg to kick him in the side of the head, spun in the air while whipping out a batarang, cutting the web and landing square. 'Kevlar.'

'Hey, B.S! Head's up, that's my boyfriend you just tried to pull a 'slice and dice' on. So, let's just say you're cruisin' for a bruisin'.'

Robin smirked as Black Spider turned cautiously to see an enraged Amazonian rushing at him. As Wonder Girl deflected Black Spider's clawing, Robin reached for his bo staff again before realising that none of them had heard a thing from Blue Beetle that hour.

He pressed a finger to his com-link. 'Blue? Link's down with Miss M injured, do you copy? Come in, Blue Beetle, do you read me?'

 _No answer,_ he thought. _Shit._

Turning back to join Wonder Girl in the thick of the fight, he said, 'Wonder Girl, if you're good here taking on Spider, I'm gonna go look for- oh God…'

Black Spider had a hand clamped on the blonde's throat as she wriggled above the ground, desperate to get out of his grasp. Her teeth were chattering as she tried to clench them, and her weary eyes looked to his other hand, raised and ready to swipe across her chest. Robin's heart jumped as he saw a thin trickle of crimson sliding down from the hand on her neck. Black Spider was killing her.

Robin bared his teeth, raised his electrified staff and ran at the assassin, yelling as he threw all his might into the brutal swing at his back. Wonder Girl crumpled to the ground as he let go of her, convulsing from the electric shock before he too fell down into a messy heap. Robin panted as he stood menacingly over the fallen assassin, looking down on him like he was a piece of gutter trash, nothing more than dirt on his shoe. He stood there for a few moments before reality pulled him back in and he remembered his severely injured girlfriend.

He ran over to her, clumsily falling to her side as he cradled her in his arms. With tender fingers, he touched the side of her neck, only to pull away to see the tips stained scarlet. Her light blue eyes fluttered up at him and she let out a soft, half-hearted groan.

'Cass…' he breathed out, flicking his gaze between her eyes as he felt tears build up in his own from under the mask.

She coughed, and his heart jumped once more to see blood join the saliva in her mouth. 'C-come on Rob… pull you-yourself together… Get a… a cloth… to-to blot it.'

He shook his head and sniffled. 'Right', he said as he went for his utility belt, shaking hands managed to pull out a highly-absorbent rag. He lifted it to her neck and pressed hard against the wound.

'Sorry, this is going to hurt while I hold the cloth against it', he said apologetically, keeping his masked eyes on hers.

'M-more than it', she paused to cough again, 'More than i-it hurts now?'

'Can you guess how deep he got you?' Robin said, having regained his cool head.

She managed a small chuckle, but quickly winced at the pain. 'Can I just rest-st? My fri-fricken throat just got s-sliced you kn-know…'

'It's important I keep you talking. I can't let you slip into unconsciousness, so the best way to do that is to keep brain waves active.'

'O-okay', she replied. 'I don't think he g-got it too deep… just n-nicked it, but I think he nicked an… an artery.'

 _Fuck._ 'Two seconds, Cass. I'm just going to radio the Watchtower, okay? Emergency pickup. Focus on my voice, focus on every word I'm saying, picture something for every word I'm saying. Whatever you do, don't stop thinking.'

She managed a tiny nod so he proceeded to pressing his com. 'Robin to Watchtower, come in Watchtower, we have a Priority Orange situation.' _Orange. More like 'Priority Red isn't even big enough for this situation'._

'We hear you Robin', Wonder Woman's voice came through. 'State the situation.'

 _Great, this is the last person I wanted to have to personally say this to. Besides Mrs Sandsmark._ 'Alpha Squad was ambushed in a Taipei Law Firm while on mission. Ambush from Black Spider. We have reason to believe Luthor was also involved. Miss Martian and Starfire were first, and Miss M was left bleeding and unconscious. Wonder Girl and I rushed up to the scene, told Starfire to get Miss Martian to the Bioship, and… and Wonder Girl was attacked when I wasn't looking, trying to reach Blue Beetle, who is still MIA. She's losing blood fast, and I can't get in touch with Beetle or the rest of the Squad. Request for pickup via Javelin.'

There was a pause on the other end of the line, before Diana's voice came back through, cold and ruthless. 'I'll come myself, Robin. Get her outside the building and stabilise the blood flow. ETA of six minutes and 42 seconds. Wonder Woman: Out.'

Robin let go of his com and looked down to stare at his girlfriend as her swollen lips trembled, her eyes fluttered and she shivered at the hint of an incoming fever. He gathered her up in his arms, rested her head on his shoulder and stood up, a merciless glare shining through the mask as he looked upon the crippled Black Spider.

'I'm coming back for you later.' He hissed out. He then glanced upon his girlfriend, who was now barely awake. With the hand underneath her shoulders, he managed clasp the injury and hold it protectively. His own lips began trembling.

'It's okay, Wonder Girl', he whispered with a shaking voice as he walked out of the room. 'I got you. And I'm not letting go.'

* * *

The cloaked man stepped out from behind the shadows as he watched the young heroes disappear down the stairs. A menacing grin crept onto his face as he noticed the trail of blood droplets that followed them out.

Taking off the hood, Lex Luthor and his bald head stood in full view. 'Well, Mr Needham, I believe that 'mission' went exponentially well, wouldn't you say?'

The believed-to-be-unconscious Black Spider then rose from the ground, shaking and loosening up his shoulders. 'Yeah. Would've enjoyed it more, though, if I didn't have to pretend to be a weak, little puss. I honestly can't believe Robin didn't stop to think that my 'lame spandex suit' might be equipped with protection that includes against electric waves.'

The billionaire bent down to dip some fallen blood onto his fingertip, examining it closely. 'That's because he was focused on his emotional side rather than his rational at the time, Eric. They're children, so they do not think rationally anyway, even the Bat ones. I've been studying this junior Justice League for quite some time now, so I know their weaknesses. And unfortunately for Robin, I know of his reciprocated affections for Wonder Girl. And now that his beloved is the focus of his mind currently and for the next hours at least, I imagine, we do not have to worry about them discovering our little… diversion.'

He stepped toward the now unmasked Black Spider, standing as Eric Needham. 'Thank you once again for your services, Mr Needham', he said with a political smile, extending a hand. 'They continue to prove most valuable.'

'Hey man, I just do whatever to get paid', he said with a shrug. 'Besides, it's not like it's a boring job.'

'Be that as it may', Luthor said with an eerie chuckle, 'I am pleased. The Shadows continue to please the Light, and every day I am reminded of the value of this partnership. And now, with the Shadows disguising and aiding the Light through distortion, it will not be long before the Darkness reigns supreme.'

* * *

 **I don't wanna talk myself up, and I don't usually say this, but I'm proud of this chapter :D**

 **Sorry I havent updated in a while. Ive been busy with school work, and busy being sick currently. Most likely from appendicitis so yay. Please let me know what you guys thought of the chapter and what you'd like to see in the upcoming ones. Already got requests from Black Victor Cachat (thank you btw!), but keep em coming guys!**

 **Oh, and if you're wondering where Lagoon Boy is in all of this, he quit. Couldnt handle SuperMartian. I'll name drop him here and there though, if you like. Maybe give him an appearance if you're interested?**

* * *

 **QUESTION OF THE CHAPTER: Favourite YJ Ship?**

 **DickBabs? Spitfire? SuperMartian? BluePulse? WonderBird? ANGELFISH (heaven forbid)?**

* * *

 **Remember to Review, Favourite and Follow 3**

 **Much love xx**

 **~SpitfireWestAllen15**


	9. Chapter 8: Realisation

**AUTHOR NOTE: Oh. My. God, guys, I am SO sorry I haven't updated in so long. School's been hectic, horses' have been crazy and psycho, and I think I becoming an insomniac... which isn't great...**

 **And let's be honest, cos you guys knew I was going to ask it but... WHAT'D YOU THINK ABOUT BVS, HEY?!**

 **Honestly, for me it was one of those movies where you really have to think about it and what message they were trying to convey. When I walked out of the cinema, my immediate rating and reaction was a meh and a half. After thinking about it when I got home, however, I really appreciated what they were doing and what they did a whole lot more. If you guys HAVE seen it, lemme know what your thoughts are. If you haven't seen it, I urge you. GO SEE BVS! IT'S AWESOME AND THE CONTENT (PARTICULARLY WW, BATFLECK AND THE ENDING) IS AMAZING!**

 **K, now that's done, I don't know if I have anything else to say other than: Hope you all had a good Easter and put on like 10 kilos from all the chocolate and ENJOY CHAPTER 8**

* * *

 **CHAPTER 8: Realisation**

 **THE WATCHTOWER**

 **August 30, 05:28 EDT**

'Where is she?!'

Nightwing was jolted awake by the sound of Conner's booming voice. He'd been up all night like everyone else, watching over their injured Teammates as they lay in their hospital beds. Dick shook his head in attempt to clear it and glanced down at his watch. Great: one and a half hours sleep in two days. Because that was _so_ healthy for his body.

Getting out of his chair, he looked around to see Superboy running towards him with such speed, he could rival the Flash. He held up his gloved hands as the Kryptonian came to a screeching halt.

He panted out, 'Where is she', whilst looking around frantically, eyes darting everywhere.

'Calm down, Conner. She's asleep at the moment, but I'll show you to her', he said calmly as he gestured for him to follow.

The two young men walked in silence as they made their way through the Watchtower. Dick looked over to see Conner was sweating, and sweating hard. But he knew it wasn't from frantically rushing to his girlfriend's side; it was from frantically worrying about her. His eyes were slightly downcast and he seemed unfocused.

Dick remembered back to when Conner first joined the Team, to when the world first met Superboy. He'd been rash, impulsive, angry. It had seemed that nothing and no one could tame his fiery soul; that was until M'gann turned the blaze in his heart into a soft, yet bright flicker of a flame. Since then, he'd been coolheaded, calm and logical in his thoughts and actions. Nowadays, the only thing and person who could bring out that was M'gann herself. And right now, with his face red and in an anxious sweat, it was blatantly obvious that this was the case.

After rounding several corners and walking through several doorways, they reached the infirmary. Conner pushed past Nightwing as he ran through the door. He stopped short as his eyes found M'gann, asleep in a hospital bed. Garfield, Artemis, Zatanna and Karen were all asleep by her side, each of them slumped over in their chair. Conner heard shuffling and looked over to see Cassie in another bed with her face scrunched up and contorted, most likely in pain. Donna had fallen asleep by her sister, and Tim was right next to her head, holding up one of her hands and stroking it. He started mumbling into it and Conner picked up on things like '-all my fault-', '-so sorry, Cass-' and 'never let it happen again-'. He chose not to pry any further.

Wonder Woman, Martian Manhunter and Batman were talking amongst themselves in the far right corner, obviously discussing the disastrous mission. J'onn looked horrified and Diana had started biting away at her perfect fingernails. Eyes widening in shock, Conner watched on as the Dark Knight gently grabbed her free hand and gave it a small, comforting squeeze, to which the Amazon princess squeezed back. He muttered a few quiet words to the two of them before glancing up at Conner and began walking toward him.

'Conner', he said him a nod, though there was a hint of comfort and empathy in his voice. 'I heard Robin already informed you of what occurred on the mission. Is that correct?'

'Yeah', was all he could breathe out as he gazed upon his immobilized girlfriend.

Batman turned to face the two injured members. 'I took a small skin and blood sample of M'gann's physiology once it was confirmed she wasn't…' Conner winced at where he was going with saying, before he changed route. 'It was safe to do so. I managed to acquire a sample of Black Spider's appendage weapons. It had the same properties within it as the dagger used by Joker to wound her last time. Same melting point, same atomic mass, same composition… everything.'

 _Oh great. A world-class assassin and a maniacal murderer joining forces to take down my girlfriend? Great, just fucking great._ 'So… they're working together?'

'Possibly', the Dark Knight replied. 'It's more likely that they've both been hired by a greater power, however.'

Conner stepped back in shock. 'Joker being hired? Isn't he in it for the mayhem, not the money?'

'That's what troubles me. Joker would rather die than work for another person… Unless he's been promised something other than a better income…'

The clone could see that Batman was deep in thought, so he left him to his own thoughts and devices to walk up to M'gann. He sat on the edge on the edge of her bed and looked down on her. It was one of the rare occasions where she looked fragile. A lock of auburn hair had fallen across her eyes, so Conner reached to brush it back into place. As he made contact, a small shock passed through him, one he gladly welcomed. He let his hand linger on her forehead, gently gliding it down until his fingers began combing through her hair just above her ear. His thumb began involuntarily smoothing over her green complexion, massaging it.

'Conner?' she groaned out, squinting her eyes open.

He brushed his hand through her hair. ' _Shhh_ , M'gann, just try and sleep.'

She minutely shook her head, opening her big, brown eyes up at her boyfriend. 'Not tired. Been asleep all night. Plus, you're here, and I want to see you.'

He smiled and leant forward, lips lightly brushing her forehead. 'That's sweet, and I want to see you too, but the more you rest, the quicker you'll heal.'

Oddly enough, she chuckled. 'It's strange, being injured. I'm used to just resting a couple of hours, letting my shapeshifting sort it out. Doesn't seem to be working.'

She looked around to see her best friends and brother asleep beside her, and smiled. Turning, she saw Cassie in the bed beside her, clearly working through some pain. Tim was holding her hand and she could see his worried eyebrows peeping out from underneath his glasses. She then saw Troia, Wonder Woman, Batman and her Uncle J'onn. Then she realised something.

Turning to Conner, she whispered out, 'Where's Starfire? And Jaime? Are they okay?'

'I heard Dick took Starfire out to calm her; she was pretty shaken up after the mission. Pretty brutal for her first one.'

'Jaime?'

Conner looked away. 'We-we found him unconscious by the building side. He's at his place recovering after head trauma.'

M'gann leaned back and squinted her eyes, urging the tears to stay in. 'It's all my fault. My head wasn't in the game. I-if I'd just been more focused, or-or if we'd approached it differently- _mmph!_ '

She was cut off by Conner's lips suddenly against hers. She allowed herself to melt into the kiss, taking in every bit of him. She snaked an arm up around his neck and let it her elbow bend as it curled over. It was a soft, full of compassion and love. As the kiss came to an end, M'gann's arm slipped back down until her hand was cupping his jaw. They pulled apart and let their foreheads touch, resting against each other.

'Thanks', M'gann breathed out at a whisper, biting her lip. 'I needed that.'

'Thought you did. But M'gann, you can't put this on yourself. You did everything right – Black Spider obviously had some inside information of your attack, and he clearly had an unforeseen advantage with that weapon.'

She slowly nodded, but then her eyes widened and she pulled away from Conner. 'It-it was the same thing as Joker's dagger… wasn't it?'

Conner glanced away, unable to bear looking into her eyes. '…Yes. Yes it was.'

'We need to find this… this weapon. If it did this to me, and did _that_ to Cassie, I don't like to think what it could do to you or anyone else on the Team and League.' She brought her hands up to rub her arms uncertainly.

He cupped the side of her face tenderly. 'M'gann, I promise you, we will stop them. I won't let them hurt you or anyone else again.'

'I know you won't. Just make sure you let me at the guy too.' Looking up at him with big, brown eyes, she whispered out, 'I love you, Conner.'

He leaned down and softly kissed her forehead. 'I love you too.'

 **METROPOLIS**

 **September 2, 13:45**

'Woo _hoo_!' she cried as she flipped over a cloud.

Giggling, she glanced behind to see him gaining on her, a devilish smile on his face. She laughed, thrusted her fists forward and climbed higher into the sky. As she disappeared into another cloud, she slowly began increasing her speed until a large boom resonated around them, and she burst out of the cloud. She spun around and closed her eyes, taking in every detail she could around her. Arms spread like a bird, eyes still closed, a smile crept onto her face as she leaned back and began plummeting to the earth.

Wind rushed past her face, whipping her hair. Her skirt beat against her thighs as her descent quickened. After free-falling for a good fifteen seconds, she opened her eyes just in time to see a skyscraper nearing her. Still grinning, she flew over it and cried out again, unable to contain her extreme happiness. A shiver ran through her, from the top of her head to the tips of her outstretched fingers. Looking behind, she saw him approaching her once more.

'I don't think so, Kal!' Supergirl cried out, before pushing forward, creating yet another sonic boom.

Chuckling as he shook his head, Superman pushed after his cousin. 'You know, Kara, when I said we should patrol and sight-see Metropolis together, I didn't mean a race.'

Up ahead, the young blonde laughed. 'One thing you should know about me, cousin: Everything with me is a competition. Whether it's implied in the suggestion or not.'

Suddenly, a siren sounded below them. Supergirl came to a screeching halt and paused, tuning her ears to the siren. Superman slowed and came up beside her, watching her inquisitely. She closed her eyes, letting every part of her focus on the siren below.

 _"Truck 16, this is Captain Bankston at the Station. Do you read? Over."_

 _"This is Officer Jones and Lang in Truck 16. We read you, Captain. Go ahead."_

 _"Just got a report in of a house fire at the corner of Olsen and Lombard. What's your ETA?"_

 _"12 minutes, sir, but we've already gotten a call about a powerline on a car… It's got kids in it."_

 _"Dammit Jones. Every other man is on a job… I can't leave the station. Better hope Supes is out there today."_

Supergirl's brilliant blue eyes flashed open, and she looked to her cousin, determination written across her face. She opened her mouth, getting ready to take a stance, say she was stopping the fire, whether or not he thought she was ready. However, she was quickly stopped by Superman's raised hand, requesting silence.

'Kara', he said with confidence, 'We'll both go and work as a team. But if I say to you to leave something to me-'

'I will', Kara nodded, and with that, they took off, a blur of red and blue.

* * *

'There!' she yelled out, pointing down below them and the flame-engulfed apartment block. A few people waited outside of it, some crying, some wailing, some screaming.

'Are we… too late?' she asked, glancing to her cousin.

His eyebrows furrowed and blue eyes turned red. 'No. I can see them. There's three children in the upper floor, and four adults in the middle. I've got the adults, you-'

'Get the kids. Got it', she said as she blasted through a hole in the burning building. As soon as she landed, she was immediately greeted by the roaring fire. Flames licked her arms as she glided through, careful not to walk on the unstable floorboards. Suddenly, a plank of wood came hurdling towards her. She raised an arm to protect her face, and it bounced off it.

'Right', she sighed out. She was then alerted to the sound of coughing. Her head jerked up and eyes widened.

'Hello?' she called out as loud as she could. She kept focused her hearing.

Coughing replied at first, but then a faint, 'H-help us, pl-please…'

'Hold on!' she called out and hastened her pace toward the voice. 'I'm on my way.'

Turning on her x-ray vision, eyes glowing blue, she looked through door after door until she spotted them. A young girl was huddled over two toddlers, two boys. Eyebrows furrowing, she carefully rushed through the fallen beams and broken railings until she reached the door.

'Damn', she cussed when the door handle didn't turn. Thinking for a moment, she squinted her eyes at the knobbly handle and two, ice-blue lasers shot out, pointing at it. They bore into it for a moment until the handle glowed red, heat radiating from it. After a few seconds, it started drooping and a few seconds after that, all of it had turned to liquid. She then carefully pushed open the door, peeping from behind it. And her heart stopped.

The young girl that she'd seen before, who appeared to be no more than ten years old, was covered in ashes. Her back was hunched, her eyes were barely open, and as yet another cough came onto her, it racked here whole body. Who Supergirl assumed to be her younger brothers were huddled beneath her, wheezing and apparently unconscious.

Supergirl bent down and rested a hand on the girl's shoulder, only for her to wince. It was burned. She looked up at her, her eyes widened in awe, in wonder. In hope.

'Are you', she paused to cough. 'A-are you a super… superhero?'

'Yes', she replied, giving her a determined, reassuring smile. 'And I'm here to rescue you.'

The girl looked down and picked up one of her brothers, raising him up all 'Rafiki and Simba' style. Kara had been watching a lot of Disney movies. 'Here, t-take Lachie and A-Angus first.'

Supergirl contemplated her choices for a moment before nodding. She took the one the girl had handed to her first, and pointed at the clouded-over window. 'Wait by this window for me, okay? I'll be back for you in two seconds. Stay low to the ground, and keep breathing.'

After the girl nodded, the young Kryptonian picked up the other boy and super-speed flew them out of the building. As soon as they were out in the open, she spotted an ambulance and rushed them over. The paramedics looked up at her and their eyes widened in shock at her appearance.

Landing, she laid the two boys across the gurneys and looked to the surprised doctors. 'These two need medical attention stat. I think they inhaled too much smoke.'

They slowly nodded, their mouths and eyes still widened at her. As she went to take off again, she looked behind herself briefly to say, 'I'm going back in for their sister.'

She flew up and over to the window. Taking in a deep breath of air, she let it out in a rush, and an icy trail formed from her lips and hit the paned window. With her laser vision, she then drilled a large enough hole into the crystallised, wooden panes, and stretching a hand in, the previously frigid window crumbled to the ground. She flew inside, and her blue eyes met the dark brown ones of the young girl, who was managing a weary, thankful smile up at her saviour.

She scooped up the young girl, and in a nick of time, and the floorboards crumbled beneath her soon after, giving way the fiery depths below. The young girl, even in her state of almost-unconscious, looked down below with a horrified and shocked look on her face. Supergirl touched her arm with the hand closest, bringing her out of the mind-set of 'I almost died' to 'I survived'. And she did, thanks to a certain, blonde Kryptonian.

* * *

'This is Lois Lane of the Daily Planet, reporting to you live from downtown Metropolis where a mysterious fire engulfing Blue Air Apartments nearly took the lives of over 20 residents. Police are currently investigating the cause of the fire, which appeared apparently out of nowhere. But the mystery of it isn't what has people talking down here; it's the person who saved them.'

Lois Lane, confidence and all, beamed at the camera at the next thing she said. 'That's right, folks, I'm talking about our hometown Man of Steel, who apparently had a spare minute off saving the world to save a handle of our city's beloved citizens. Witnesses reported seeing the Blue Boy Scout fly into the thick of the fire and pull out a young mother, an elderly couple and a college student. It seems that once again, the day has been saved by Su-'

'Excuse me, Miss Lane? Miss Lane!' Lois turned her head to see a mother running towards her, with an excited, young girl in tow. 'I-I hope you don't mind, but there's something you should know.'

Lois looked back to the camera momentarily, flashing another smile, before muffling the microphone with her hand and looking back to the civilians. 'Sorry ma'am, but I'm on a time schedule. I have to wrap it up in a minute, and I still need to cover a few things.'

'Please', the mother said, raising her hands in a prayer. 'My daughter was also rescued from the fire and she has something to say. It's incredibly important, and I also think it'd make a great story for you.'

Letting out an inward sigh, she turned to the camera, opened the microphone again and said, 'Hold on a moment, Perry. Apparently, a victim of the fire has a story to tell.'

'Go ahead, sweetheart.' She knelt down and held the microphone in front of the girl's face.

'Hi, my name is Genevieve, I'm ten years old, and I live- uh, lived here', she started off, somewhat nervous. But as she continued, confidence flew into her, and she spoke with a smile. 'My brothers and I were stuck in their bedroom on the top floor, and the fire was really close to us. We were all coughing a lot, and after a while, my brothers fell asleep. I was starting to feel sleepy too, but then I heard someone call out.'

'I told them to help us, and then a bit later, this girl came through. She looked like Superman, except she was younger, she had long, blonde hair, a gold belt and a red skirt. She came over to us and took my brothers out. Like, she _flew_ them out. Then, she came back and got me, picked me up, and then the floor broke. We were flying above the fire. It was scary, but it was also pretty cool. _She_ was pretty cool.'

'She dropped me off at the ambulance with my younger brothers and got our mom. Then she just flew off', the young girl, Genevieve, finished with.

Lois, who stood beside her, was in both awe and a considerable amount of shock. Clark hadn't told her that there was a Super _girl_ … Remembering she still had to deliver to the people back home, she stood up and addressed the camera. 'How about that? According to this brave, little girl, ladies and gents, our city might've gained another hero. And all the young girls and women at home must be ecstatic at there being a super _heroine_! Is our young friend Genevieve telling the truth? Do we really have a Super _girl_? Guess we'll just have to wait and-'

Suddenly, a large gust of wind swayed everyone, ruffling hair and clothes. Glancing up, the large crowd that had gathered stood in absolute awe at the figure in front of them. With the sun directly behind, the silhouette of a flying, feminine figure hovered above them, her skirt, cape and hair billowing majestically in the wind. Lowering herself to the ground, everyone saw the lithe figure of the blonde teenager carrying in her arms a tabby cat. Walking over to a beaming Genevieve, she knelt down and handed her the calm cat.

She smiled at the ten-year-old. 'Saw your name on his collar when I found him up a tree. Pretty ironic, right?'

She was then surprised when the young girl set the cat down safely at her feet, leapt into her arms and squeezed her tightly. Momentarily surprised, the blonde hugged her back just as tight, a smile bright on her lips. She pulled away, beamed at the girl and stood up.

'Thank you, thank you so much… Supergirl.'

She could feel tears welling in her ice-blue eyes, and urged them back in. 'Any time, kiddo. Just try to steer clear of fires.'

With that, Supergirl turned around, bent her knees and leapt into the sky above, a blur of red in the sky. After a few moments of shock, the crowd burst into a cacophony of noise, loud, thankful clapping and cheering. Lois smiled, forgetting that she was going to murder Clark for not telling her about his little sis.

'There you have it, everyone. To me, and everyone else downtown, that's all the confirmation we need that we now have a new hero. You at home just witnessed the first ever appearance of Supergirl, the Girl of Steel. Over to you, Perry.'

 **THE WATCHTOWER**

 **September 2, 16:16 EDT**

'Come on, Blue, you're up to forty-seven now. Pretend that that constant headache from your last mission isn't making your head throb. Come on, you can do it! I believe in you!'

'Hear that, Scarab? My amigo believes in me. Notice I called him amigo, something I don't call you too often, esé.'

 _'Just remember that the Kid Flash is the one sitting on you, Jaime Reyes',_ his scarab replied scornfully.

Jaime grunted and screwed up his face, urging his muscles to keep going as he pulled his shaking body up from another push-up. Squinting as he continued to shake, he looked behind him to see Bart sitting cross-legged on his back, giving him a big thumbs-up. Like he'd been doing for the last 48 times.

Carefully lowering himself down, he looked up to see Tim walking in with a wobbly Cassie on his arm. His face lit up, and he pushed harder. His muscles were burning, screaming at him to stop. He said 'shut up and do your shit' to his muscles' face. Bart leaned down to whisper in his ear, ' _cough_ Show-off _cough._ '

' _Shut up_ ', he breathed out through gritted teeth as he pulled himself up, finishing his final push-up. Collapsing to the ground, he lay there a few moments, groaning as his muscles ached, burned, and punched themselves. That's how much it hurt.

Above him, he could hear Tim scoff. 'You right there, Jaime? Trying to be all tough after your beat-up, are we?'

'Yep', he grunted, turning his head to look up at his friends. 'Just waiting for the excess baggage to unload itself.'

Bart groaned and hauled himself off of his collapsed friend. 'Fine. Thanks for ruining my fun, Jaime. Consider my mode felt.'

'You're welcome.' Jaime winced as he pushed himself up into a sitting position. Looking up, his eyes found Cassie, whose bright blue eyes were now hazy and dull. Her peppy, upright, full-of-life posture was now slouched, hunched over, and tired. Jaime couldn't help but feel sympathetic towards the 16-year-old girl, who now looked like she gained another 30 years on her current age.

Cassie Sandsmark had been his friend since he'd first joined the Team. She was the one who convinced him to join up in the first place, who'd accompanied him on his first mission, who'd helped him in those first few hard weeks, who'd trained with him. She had been his first friend. He'd remembered how strong she'd seemed on that first day, when she appeared beside him and pulled him out of school to bring him on the adventure of a lifetime. All the life and joy that had pulsated from here. Seeing her so helpless and downtrodden – it broke his heart.

'How you feeling, Cassie?'

She looked up and gave him a small smile. 'Much better, still a bit groggy and dizzy though. Lost quite a bit of blood, and Dr Tompkins said no crime-fighting for another 3 weeks. So boo', she said, and he face fell. It quickly lightened up again when she said, 'M'gann's looking a lot better though. Doc thinks she can start training again in a few days and be out in the field again in just over a week.'

Tim smiled as looked at her. 'She's doing really well. Batman also checked her, being, you know, Batman, and he said her vitals are stable, her bloodstream is full again and she'll be fine. He _did_ encourage her to stay off her feet. You can see how _that_ went.'

'Shut up, Boy Blunder', she said as she half-heartedly elbowed him in the side.

'Hey', he replied with a chuckle. 'Just remember who's holding you up.'

'Yeah about that, I wanna sit down. Can you drop me off over there?' she asked, pointing to a padded bench.

She let out a squeal as he picked her up bridle style and begun walking toward her desired destination. 'As you wish.'

Beside him, Jaime heard Bart let out a drawn-out _aww_ at the _Princess Bride_ reference. The Hispanic chuckled at his friend's reaction to the adorable gesture and watched on as a giggling Cassie was lowered gently by her knight in shining armour. Not that Cass was a damsel in distress – she was anything but.

Leaning back into the padded upright of the chair, the Amazon folded her arms as she watched Tim join their two friends on the gymnasium. 'So we saw your impressive push-ups, but what's next? I need some entertainment here, guys!'

'Aren't I entertainment enough, Cass? You honestly don't think that these two _delinquents_ are gonna top your boyfriend, do you?' Tim joked as he moved to the Uneven Bars.

Over at the super-sonic treadmill, Bart scoffed as he pushed it up to Mach 1. ' _Pssh_ , you're gonna look like the delinquent after this. Actually, you're gonna look more like a moron.'

'Can you two just shut up?' Jaime grunted, pulling himself up for a chin-up. 'Tryna get fit over here.'

'Yeah, _trying_ to, Jaime', Bart snickered.

' _Maldito, pedazo de mierda! Ya he tenido suficiente de tu mierda y su grasa, puto culo perezoso_!'

Whilst Cassie and Bart looked at the fuming 16-year-old confusedly, Tim, who was currently balancing himself in a one-armed handstand on the top of bars, looked over in horror before losing balance and falling, grabbing hold of the bar just in time.

' _Language,_ Jaime!' he yelled over.

He shrugged. 'I know, it was Spanish, so I let all hell loose. Anyway, how was I supposed to know that _you_ know Spanish?'

'You're seriously asking that? Batman knows eight languages. _Fluently._ Obviously I've picked up a thing or two here and there. Which means I know what you think about Bart's backside.' The Batman protégé narrowed his aqua eyes at the blushing Blue Beetle.

Bart frowned and glanced behind him. 'What's wrong with my butt?'

Cassie, who'd been sitting contently on the side-line, suddenly leapt into the thick of the battle. 'Can you _all_ just shut up?!'

Seeing that had silenced the boys, she smiled ever so sweetly at them again. 'Good. Now that you've finished behaving like *little boys with no natural inclination to _share*_ ,' she hung on her words as the teen boys blushed, 'maybe we can have a civil convo now?'

Stealing a quick, embarrassed glance at one another, the guys nodded slowly, allowing a bright smile to creep onto Cassie's face.

'Finally. Yay!' she said and ushered them all over. Gesturing toward the space in front of her, she asked them to sit down in a very granny-like manner. Tim was struggling to keep from laughing due to Bart and Jaime's perplexed faces.

He absolutely lost it when his girlfriend said, 'Now, children. Storytime with Auntie Cass.'

He was soon silenced by a bat-worthy glare being shot in his direction. Once he'd been put in his place, Cassie leaned back into the backrest, crossing her legs and arms. She smiled sweetly down on the cross-legged boys.

'Kay, it's all g, I'm done with that crap', she said to their relief. 'And the story nonsense. When I said that, I meant 'prepare yourselves for a gossip sesh!'

Jaime's eyes widened, and he prepared himself to get up and leave. That was until Cassie's invincible lasso tightened around his frame, and he let out a squeal as he was jerked back to his spot. Shaking he looked up to see Cassie's figure above him, giving him the most serious look he thought he'd ever seen on her face.

'Sit.'

'Yes ma'am.'

Bart exploded with a raucous of laughter, and Tim sat by the shocked Hispanic, smirking at the scene. Leaning across, he then whispered into his ear, 'Trust me, Jaime, there's no escaping her. Believe me, I've tried time and time again.'

The three boys then turned to look up at their new ring leader, and the dreaded gossip begun.

* * *

Although none of them would admit it, the girly socialising soon became an accepted second nature, and the boys began to enjoy it immensely. The subjects had varied extremely, from everyone's take on the 'Kimye' relationship to the most recent hooligan-like acts by Booster Gold and Vigilante. Cassie was silently chuckling to herself at the spectacle of three grown boys getting riveted by the information, and pouring their heart and soul into the discussions.

'Oh, I had to bring this one up!' Bart said. 'What'd you guys think about the new recruits?'

Jaime, who'd been sipping a lemon squash, slammed his drink down to rush in. ' _Muy Bien!_ They're awesome! Raven's really mysterious and interesting, Starfire's really sweet and cool and well… she looks like that', he said with a blush, to which Cassie rolled her eyes and the other boys nodded in agreement. 'And Supergirl… Supergirl's just amazing.'

'I've been really impressed with how she's handled this new planet and all the challenges it's thrown at her.'

Tim nodded in agreement. 'I heard Conner saying that she starts school tomorrow. Apparently Barbara and M'gann are going shopping with her today to get some supplies and clothes, and they're 'briefing' her on how to act at school. She's sounds like she's pretty excited by it all. Hardly nervous.'

'And can you imagine being thrown into a world with technology far behind her own? She must feel like she's living in the Stone Age!' Cassie exclaimed.

'I can', Bart said with a small smirk. 'Which means I can relate. It's tough living on an Earth so different to my own, so for Kara… it must be surreal.'

'Clark and Conner must be over the moon, knowing that they're not the only Kryptonians, you know? Gives them hope. But Kara… Kara probably feels like she's lost everything. Technically, she _has_ lost everything. Conner and Clark grew up on Earth and lived the lives of humans, but Kara had a whole other life on Krypton. She has years of memories with her family, friends, and fellow Kryptonians, all who're now dead.' Cassie looked away uncomfortably.

None of the teens knew what to say, how to respond. They all knew that they were thinking the same thing, however; by saving her life, Kara's parents had gifted her with a fate worse than death – living a new life on an established, very different and lonely planet compared to her one on her now dead home. That would be something that'd consume her with every waking moment until the day she died. She'd be traumatised.

After a good, long think, Jaime cleared his throat. 'Yeah, well, this is why we to make sure we're always conscious of that life, and do everything in our power to make her transition to Earth ways as easy as possible, given what's happened.'

'Yeah', Bart said, still lost in thought.

'Absolutely.'

'Of course.'

They then sat in silence for a few moments, until Bart attempted to clear the air with a laid-back stretch and drawn-out yawn. 'Well, I don't know about you guys, but I've been pulling all-nighters all week with school and the Team and everything, and I am pooped! Anyone want to join me for a snooze in the library?'

Eager to talk or do anything but about the elephant in the room, everyone leapt to the feet (Cassie with a bit of aid from Tim) and nodded in agreement. The four teens then raced out of the gym, minus Cassie hobbling along beside Tim, and made their way to the beloved beanbags of the library.

As they raced down the hallway, Bart let his mind wander back to the abandoned conversation. He would've been happy to think about anything but Kara's living nightmare, as it reminded him of his own switch from one 'world' to another. Not like it had been a great life 40 years into the future, with Armageddon ruling over alongside old Blue Beetle and the Reach, but it'd had its perks here and there. For example, he'd learnt not to take a single thing for granted, and had become extremely resourceful. And of course there was Nathaniel, his constant conscience and friend throughout their hellish time there. He'd had other friends too, but most of them had been killed, abducted, manipulated or even joined the Reach.

He shook his head and the thoughts out along with it. After all, there was no need to think about that now, and it'd been changed, saving the future. He thanked God that he could now sleep better at night, knowing he'd always wake up to a better tomorrow.

 **MOUNT JUSTICE**

 **FEBRUARY 28, 10:05 EST**

 **THIRTY-NINE YEARS LATER**

'-day?'

Nathaniel looked around him in unwelcome shock, taking in his displeasing, similar surroundings. 'No… The time stream. It should've all changed, all at once. The mode should've crashed, should've all crashed…'

His eyes widened, knees buckled, and he fell to the ground, looking around him in utter despair. As new memories flooded in of his new past, he couldn't stop his heart racing. It should've been from ecstasy, but it was from dread, impending doom, hopelessness. He began hyperventilating as he dragged his gaze down to the dull, grey ashes before him, scooping it up with a shaking hand, letting the follicles slip through his fingers.

He jumped as he heard a voice behind him. 'Widened, darting eyes, shaking limbs, examining daily objects with such intent, it is as though you've never seen them before? I did always suspect you would eventually… how do you call it? Snap? I just did not believe it would be so soon, Nathaniel. '

The older man sighed, and shakily rose from the filthy ground. 'Oh, it's only you. Thought the beetles were patrolling again.'

Ignoring him, the other person spoke up again. 'I see Bart has left our midst. And your prison wear and scars have dissipated.'

'Yeah, the kid went back-'

'Forty years in an attempt to change our fate? Yes, I had already acquired that knowledge.'

Nathaniel managed a chuckle. 'Yeah, of course. But you know this isn't your fate, right? As in, this isn't your future, and you could go back at any time to where you came from, the age you came from. A better tomorrow.'

The individual suddenly turned around and faced him. 'But I have not, have I? Originally, I travelled back a millennium to discover the ways of the inhabitants of the 21st century, but I have stayed to find a way to save the past and to preserve it from any further destruction.'

'And that is why I have come looking for you at this time. I believe I have found that way.'

Nathaniel's eyes widened and he walked over to the shorter, younger person. 'What?'

'I have calculated the most prominent threats of the universe, and one individual has stood out in my research. His name is Darkseid, and I have reason to believe that he conquers Earth a few short years after Bart Allen's arrival into the past.'

'I have calculated approximately when he begins his invasion, which is around one year and six months after the arrival of Impulse.'

When Nathaniel raised an eyebrow, the other person replied with, 'Impulse. It was the alias that Bart Allen took up when he began his heroics in early 2016. Back onto our previous topic, however, if I can travel back in time, which I obviously and easily can, prior to Darkseid's arrival, I might be able to find a way to prevent the turmoil and destruction he is to later cause.'

'Hold on a second.' Nathaniel jumped in. 'This… Darkseid, he's the person now behind this?!'

'Yes, I believe that the Justice League of 2016 alongside the young heroes known as 'the Team' managed to prevent the Reach from performing their hostile takeover, but this then lead to the arrival of Darkseid.' They then reached for one of their forearms and pressed a button, and the air around them began to light up and swirl.

'I must go now. I will travel to early September 2017, confront the Justice League and the Team, and devise a plan to protect Earth from Darkseid's wrath.'

'Wait!' Nathaniel said, jumping forward and grabbing onto the young being's arm. 'Y-you know that symbol on your forehead isn't exactly a welcome one in the time you're going to be in. You'll probably end up being an outcast, dealing with accusations that you can't help… I know, I've been there. It's unbearable. It's a life I don't want someone as young as you to have to deal with.'

For the first time, the younger of the two seemed unsure of himself. 'I know, Nathaniel. I have predicted that the members of the Justice League, especially Superman, will resent me, will hate me even. But I accept this treatment if it means the rest of Earth's inhabitants can sleep, knowing it will wake up to a better tomorrow.'

Nathaniel offered him a tight smile, and moved his hand up to rest it on their shoulder. 'Always have to be the hero, don't you?'

'It _is_ an enjoyable occupation', he said with a smirk, before giving his older companion a respectful nod. 'Farewell, my friend. I cannot calculate this, but I do hope that we meet again in another, brighter time.'

Nathaniel returned the gesture, stepped back, and watched as his futuristic friend was lifted into the air, dust swirling around him like a Kansas tornado as he got ready to make the leap through time.

'Prepare yourself, 2017', Nathaniel breathed out to himself as the young time-traveller's face grew serious and full of determination. 'You're about to receive one of the most crash people I know. You're about to receive Brainiac 5.'

* * *

 **Good lord, that last section was fun to write. But yes guys, Brainiac 5, or Brainy, is gonna be a member of YJ! ... hopefully...**

 **Still no news on the YJ season 3 front, but I had a dream about it the other night (sad, i know), so hopefully thats a good sign :) make sure you sign the online petition to help secure the chance of more seasons of the best cartoon ever**

* * *

 **QUESTION OF THE CHAPTER: Who/what would you guys like to see more of in upcoming chapters?**

 **Spoiler? Static? Red Hood? Brainiac 5? etc.**

* * *

 **Remember to Review, Favourite and Follow :)**

 **Much love xx**

 **~SpitfireWestAllen15**


	10. Chapter 9: Secrets 20

**AUTHOR'S NOTE: Helloooooooo everybody! Long time, no… read?**

 **Yes, I'm terrible. I'm sorry. I've been crazy busy with horses and school and an extreme case of procrastination (it tends to be triggered by anything DC)**

 **Head's up, saying this chapter is longer than the other ones by a margin would be the understatement of the year… IT JUST KEPT GOING, AND I COULDN'T STOP! Sorry if it takes you till Halloween to finish reading this.**

 **Unfortunately, there's still no development on the YJ S3 field as of yet. It's pissin' me off… I'm pretty confident that we'll get it though, guys, just gotta #KeepBingingYJ**

 **So far, the voice actors/actresses of Miss Martian, Impulse, Aqualad, and Tigress (probs some more) have already shown very clearly that they'd welcome Season 3 and embrace the chance to portray those characters again. Now, if we could just get Alyson Stone and Jess McCartney…**

 **BUT HOLY SHIT GUYS, WE'RE GETTING A(NOTHER) BATMAN SOLO FILM! YAY! Starring Ben Affleck, written and directed by Ben Affleck. Because he's Batman. (BTW, seriously hoping it's gonna be a UTRH storyline, cos that'd be sick, and we all need some more Jason in our lives)**

 **BTW, a special thanks to MiriB, who's been supporting this fic from the beginning (sorry I haven't replied, fanfiction site's been a bit of a bitch recently :/ ) hope you like the first section of this chapter**

 **Without further ado, ENJOY CHAPTER 9, the longest chapter to date!**

* * *

 **CHAPTER 9: Secrets 2.0**

 **GOTHAM CITY**

 **September 10, 22:35 EST**

 _'My heart's a stereo, it beats for you so listen close. Hear my thoughts in every no-O-ote! '_

'Ha – oh my god!'

'Robin, stop it, you're encouraging the delinquent.'

' _Aww_ , come on, BG! It's your favourite song, I thought you'd be a bit more enthusiastic about yours truly singing it, and singing it with style. And I think I'm more of a _re_ linquent, if you don't mind me saying.'

Batgirl couldn't help rolling her eyes and letting out a very obvious scoff at his antics and wordplay. 'Last time I checked, Douche Wonder, that was _your_ favourite song. _My_ favourite song happens to be a bit more…'

'Explicit?' Robin said, piping up beside the black and yellow clad superheroine.

Nightwing patted the younger man on the head, before tutting at his redhead bestfriend. ' _Tsk tsk,_ BG, I hope you realise that Douche Wonder will be short-lived? And please tell me you haven't been letting Tim listen to Hollywood Undead again- _ow!_ '

Robin glared at the former Boy Wonder, pursing his lips. 'Yeah, well, that's what you get for mentioning my S.I., you idiot! And FYI, I'm sixteen. I can listen to whatever I want.'

'He has a point, you know', Batgirl said without lifting her gaze from the city before them, with one foot on the head of a gargoyle as she leaned onto her knee.

The three, young heroes looked below them, taking in the rare, beautiful sight of Gotham's colourful nightlife. There was some celebrity in town who'd been doing a hero work themselves: visiting the hospital, local orphanage, funding a new park, the usual publicity stunts. The mayor had decided to have a bit of a light show around the city as a sort of 'thank you' for all their service. How Batgirl wished _they_ got that kind of appreciation. But she wasn't going to complain too much, as the bright array of colours painting the bland buildings made the compulsory Thursday night patrol more bearable.

She'd been so lost in the glorious colour scheme, she was startled back into reality by a black and grey hand clicking in front of her eyes.

'There she is!' Nightwing exclaimed as she wheeled around to face the Bludhaven resident. 'Thought we'd lost you to the light, Batgirl. Might've had to start calling you _Moth_ girl. I can see the Rogues trembling in fear already.'

'Especially Killer Moth. Could you imagine?' Robin exclaimed mockingly, joining in with Nightwing's teasing.

'Hardee har, you two. Forget being vigilantes; you both have a guaranteed career in comedy'. Jumping down from her post, she walked over to the two boys, resting her hands on her hips. 'Anyway, clowns, this section is obviously clear. That's 50 out of 52 done and dusted. We'll have to remember to keep a close eye on Sections 8 and 37, though. But right now, we should go and investigate Section 51, see if that fishy activity going on there from 3 weeks ago is still… well, fishy.'

Robin squinted his eyes. 'How-?'

'She remembers everything, Rob. Great for some things for us, horrible for others…' Nightwing replied for a knowing glance at a smirking Batgirl.

'He's right, I remember _everything_. So think twice before you try to borrow and return my earphones without telling me', she said while Robin began to lower his head slowly. 'Bt-dubs, Wingnut, the correct term for my superpower is 'eidetic memory'.'

Nightwing just smiled at her. 'Okay, smart ass. Hope that 'eidetic memory' has helped you to recall what we all have to attend on Sunday-'

'The Annual Wayne Charity Ball. Held at the old uptown museum. Starts at 7:00pm sharp. Definitely not black-tie.' Batgirl made eye contact with the black and blue hero, expecting to see some sort of look of disbelief plastered on his handsome face. Yet, there was a prominent, and very startling smirk smiling straight back at her.

'Yep!' He piped up, making his way over to her and taking her chin in his hand. In a slightly seductive manner too, Batgirl thought. She knew that _he_ knew that none of those tricks worked on her, however. There was almost nothing he could do to surprise her these days.

'And I knew you'd be lacking in the pretty dress department, Miss Tough, so I bought you one.'

Okay, that could work. She could vaguely hear a snicker coming from Robin's direction as her mouth hung open in Nightwing's hand.

A dress? Seriously, Dick was practically broke as it was, with travelling the world and everything. Where on earth had he found the money for a dress? No, a gown?! But the biggest question of all, the one that whispered at the very back of her mind was _why?_ While they'd almost been an item here and there, above everything else, they were best friends. They'd been that way for more than a decade, so they often got each other stuff when the other didn't or couldn't get it. But the best thing Dick had ever bought her before then was a sterling silver necklace with her Bat symbol on it, and that had been as a mark of her first year as Batgirl. _But a gown…_

'Um…' she thought out loud, for once, lost for words. She'd been trying to formulate an answer when suddenly a flicker of movement caught her eye.

Pulling out of Nightwing's grasp, she went over to the ledge and peered over it. 'What the…'

Nightwing and Robin ran to her side, looking curiously at her perplexed expression before following her line of vision. 'What in the…'

'Who's that?' Robin queried beside his adoptive siblings, not daring to look away from the sight below. 'I've never seen them before.'

Batgirl and Nightwing exchanged a nervous glance over the younger boy's head. They'd never seen the sight below either. Looking back down, Nightwing whipped out a pair of binoculars, and the others followed suite. Peering through the lenses, Batgirl could see the previous commotion in a much grander scale: it was occurring behind an abandoned warehouse, there were approximately eleven civilians, no, certified drug dealers, as the enhanced binoculars told her, and there was a strange figure in the middle of them. Narrowing her vision even further, she saw he wore sturdy boots, tight dark pants, a brown leather jacket and… a red helmet? The bright crimson headgear covered his entire head except for two tiny, white eye slits, not unlike the Bat-family's.

The strangest part of it all was that underneath his jacket was a plain black shirt, with nothing on it. Except for a red bat.

It appeared like Batman's, except more solid. Taking away her vision impairment, she glanced to her companions. 'What'd you guys reckon?'

'Possible Bat-fan?' Robin suggested with a raised eyebrow. 'Crazed, idiotic Bat-fan?'

Nightwing pursed his lips and narrowed his eyes down below. 'I don't think he's an idiot. His posture shows no fear or nervousness, only extreme confidence. I think we should try and get in closer.'

Batgirl and Robin nodded in response, and the trio grappling-gunned their way over to a closer building, until they had a clear view of the spectacle unfolding below them.

'Good', Batgirl said as she crouched, peeping over the ledge. 'Now we can listen in.'

A shock passed through her suddenly and she flinched away. Looking next to her, she realised that Nightwing had come to set himself down beside her. Right beside her.

 _Freakin' hell, Gordon!_ she cursed to herself, _You've been fine for five freaking years. Why's Hunk Wonder only getting to you now, you wimp?_

Letting out a breath, she let herself fall back in place beside him, their sides brushing as they focused on the sudden shouting before them. Robin nestled in on Batgirl's other side, barely moving as he looked down.

'Are you fuckin' jokin'?' a thick Jersey accent called out below them. Peering over the ledge again, Batgirl saw it came from a round man with an open V shirt, a gold chain around his neck, and thick-as-hell chest hair. 'What makes you think we're gonna do what you's tellin' us?'

All eyes went to the mystery man. He remained quiet, merely pulling out a bag from behind him and chucking it before the criminals. His eye-slits narrowed as he pulled out a handgun, gestured to the bag, and with a distorted voice said, 'I never joke. Go on. Open it up.'

A few of them exchanged cautious glances before one eager, younger man stepped forward and unzipped the bag with ease. Suddenly, a mixture of horror, disgust and fear rolled onto his face, and he backed away, throwing up almost immediately. As other people saw the contents of the bag, some fainted, more puked, but most were just speechless.

'Holy crap…' Nightwing breathed out, eyes widening beneath his mask. Batgirl raised a concerned eyebrow at him until she heard a gaging noise on her side. Whipping her head around, she saw Robin with a clenched fist over his bulged mouth, trying desperately to settle his stomach.

Raising herself up higher, Batgirl peered over more than before, until she saw what had left everyone so sickened. _Oh my God._

A good 12 human heads sat in the bag, some fresh, some quite old. All their eyes' looked up at the living people above with glassy, lifeless stares. Some had expressions of last-second defiance, their lips curled up in a snarl, whilst others wore sheer terror.

 _Who is this guy?_

The man before them stayed calm, content even, resting a relaxed hand on his hip, his other held the gun loosely at his side. 'Those are the people who've crossed, vexed, disobeyed and generally pissed me off. Some of them, like O'Donnell here', he said, pushing against a face with his gun, 'they met their end pretty quick. Capture and behead; simple. But people like pathetic Falcone Jr. over there', he said as he nudged another with his boot, 'well, I got a few screams outta him before I sent him off to hell. So gents, the question is, do you wanna end up like O'Donnell, Falcone, or do you wanna save your necks by doing what I say?'

Batgirl was still listening in, but she couldn't take her eyes away from the horrific sight of the heads, and she could barely stop the bile rising up in her throat. _Does this person have no remorse? No conscious?_

Slowly, all the people below started nodding their heads, each fearing for their lives. Batgirl could swear she saw the smirk through the blood-red mask. 'Awesome', he said menacingly, his voice disfigurer making it come out like a snarl. 'I guess I'll see you all later. Oh, and keep the bag. You losers could probably use the motivation here and there, and for promoting my name.'

As he turned to walk off, one of them, a woman dressed in a pantsuit, stepped forward and said, 'Wait! What _is_ your name?'

He swivelled his head around, showing off his muscular neck to the people above. 'I'm the Red Hood, motherfucker.'

With that, he raised his gun up to the pitch-black sky and let off two shots, and disappeared into the night.

Batgirl looked up and slowly turned her body so she was lying on her back. It was only then that she realised she'd barely breathed in those few minutes. She barely felt Nightwing and Robin shift beside her to prop themselves in the same position.

'We should've intervened', Nightwing finally breathed out after the silence had become too much.

Robin looked away. 'I'm not sure any of us were in the right mind frame to take that situation on head first. I mean, I wasn't the only one who nearly wet my suit, right?'

Batgirl laid a reassuring hand on his quivering arm. 'Don't worry Robin. I was definitely rooted to my spot after that. Besides, I think it was better just to gather some intel this time around.'

Nightwing suddenly swung his head around to face the other two, teeth clenched. 'Oh yeah? Tell me, Batgirl, what intel did we gather exactly? 'Cause from where I was standing, we basically know nothing!'

Furrowing her eyebrows at the infuriated man, she hissed back, 'Enough, Nightwing, we got enough! We've now identified a possible new crime boss and a definite new serial killer, and if you'd actually bothered to pull your head out of your own ass, you'd realise that Robin managed to get some photos and lo, some _freaking evidence_! So head in the game, and calm the hell down.'

Nightwing had backed away, eyes wide once more. Even Robin looked startled by Batgirl's sudden outburst, and even slightly impressed. The auburn-haired girl smirked at the shocked Nightwing, and just for kicks, maybe a slight bit of satisfaction, leaned forward and pressed her lips against his hot, sweaty cheek. She could feel him briefly tighten under the sudden contact, but he soon relaxed again, and she could feel a silent sigh escaping him. _Nailed it, BG, nailed it._

Pulling away, her bright blue eyes met his, though covered by the apparent expressionless mask. She let a hand slip away from her belt and toward one of his, grasping and squeezing it firmly, but comfortingly. Raising her eyebrows worriedly at him, she said, 'We're all freaked out by that, and it's definitely the last thing we want to deal with right now. But we're Bats; we've conquered worse, we'll conquer this.' Looking behind her, she reached for Robin's as well, and holding both their hands, she declared, 'Together.'

Robin squeezed back, and with a tight smile replied, 'Together.'

The two of them then looked to Nightwing, who seemed to overcome most of his shock, and shook his head with a half-hearted laugh. 'This is like an 11 on the scale of cheesiness, but yes', he said as he looked into the eyes of his Teammates, 'Together.'

With one last look, they all got to their feet and pulled out their grappling guns, aiming them at a neighbouring tower. Nightwing went first, then was followed swiftly by Batgirl. Just as Robin prepared to pull the trigger, a flicker of purple caught his attention. Lowering his device, he narrowed his eyes and looked around, yet it seemed to have disappeared. _Could it be_ …

Pressing on his com, he radioed his companions, 'Robin to Batgirl and Nightwing. Something's caught my eye over here. I'm just going to do a quick investigation, but I'll radio if I need help. Otherwise, I'll meet you at Section 51.'

'Acknowledged, Robin', Batgirl's voice rang clear in his ear, the sound of rushing wind combined with it. 'See you soon.'

'Be careful, Rob. Nightwing: out.'

Taking his hand away from the earpiece, he furrowed his eyebrows and ran toward where he'd last seen the movement, standing on the opposite side of the building, right on the ledge. _Where are you?_

Suddenly, something jumped out of the shadows below him and temporarily blocked his vision. He stumbled back, whipping his head around, electrified staff out, only to see the familiar purple clad vigilante.

'Woah, easy there, tiger', she said, hands out in front defensively. 'I come in peace, I swear.'

Chuckling at himself, mostly in embarrassment, he flicked the staff back into its compacted state and attached it his belt. 'Sorry about that. Natural reflexes tend to take over when purple girls jump out from underneath me.'

She waved her hand dismissively. 'Nah, s'alright. I'm sure that's what we'd all do.'

Unable to tell whether she was mocking him or not, he walked over to her. 'So, what're you doing here? I sort of need to get back to patrol.'

She looked over his shoulder, as though watching for something, before swinging back around again, hands held behind her back. 'Well, I don't see a patrol, so I'm gonna steal your time for bit. M'kay?'

'Okay?' he chuckled again, not sure what to feel.

Suddenly, a serious feel came over the young vigilante, and she took steps toward him until Robin had to tilt his head down to look at the shorter girl. Apprehension prickled under his skin as she looked up at him, allowing him to see part of her face for the first time. Soft, electric-blue eyes stared back at him, with golden eyebrows furrowed in a serious expression. He gulped.

Suddenly, a hand touching his sent a zap through him, and he looked down to see her hand over his own. _What're you doing, Tim?!_

However, when she took her hand away, he saw a small device now placed neatly in his hand. A USB. A silent 'thank you' went to God. _Geez, you're an idiot…_

'What is this?' he shook his head and looked back at her.

She scoffed. 'What's it look like, genius? A drive. It contains data I've collected on the Red Hood. I saw you and your pals staring him down like a hawk before, and thought you could use some help.'

Taking a step back, she crossed her arms and looked over the city. 'I've been tracking him for weeks. It surprised me when I found out that this was your first encounter with him. He's notorious; he's already built up quite a name for himself. I've seen people quivering in fear when they hear it.'

Turning back to him, he could faintly see her serious expression beneath the hood. 'Watch yourself, Robin. This guy doesn't kid around.'

He couldn't help but scoff at her last words. 'Watch _me_? Don't worry about me. I've got Nightwing and Batgirl and heck, I've got Batman. I'll be fine. But from what I know, you're doing this solo.'

He ran a hand through his loose hair. 'You know, I'm sure you'd find this all easier and safer if you had someone to watch your back. If you want, I can talk to Batman about him training you-'

Her electric eyes flashed with fear for a split second before being flooded with rage. 'I don't need help from anyone, _especially_ not him! I don't want my life secrets being known by any of you people-' she suddenly broke off, realising she'd said something wrong.

Robin's eyes narrowed in curiosity. What was so bad about her secrets? Why didn't she want any of them to know? Sure, he could absolutely respect wanting privacy and wanting to protect secrets, but what could this perky, spirited teenage girl possibly want to hide?

Resting a hand on her tense shoulder, he said, 'I'm sorry I said anything. I didn't mean to offend you in any way. My offer stands though, and if you ever change your mind, just let me know.'

He went to leave, but she rushed out and grabbed his arm. 'Wait!'

She sighed, looking down. 'I-I'm sorry I lashed out like that. What I meant to say was that I'd love to work with you. Nothing would make me happier.'

Robin couldn't stop the little skip his heart did.

'But _just_ you, okay? No one else from your messed-up family can find out, especially not Batman.'

Hiding a secret from Batman, the World's Greatest Detective. Piece of cake.

Slowly, he nodded his head. 'Okay. It's our little secret.'

He could see her eyes smiling from beneath the hood, and he didn't need to look beneath the mask below her eyes to know she was beaming like no tomorrow. She was back to the happy, excitable badass he'd seen the first time.

'Sweet! Good thing that drive also contains my contact details, hey?' she asked with a wink.

With that she made her way over to the ledge and pulled out an indigo grappling gun. Robin couldn't help but scoff. He walked over to her, arms crossed.

'I was just thinking: If we're gonna be working together, then I'm gonna have to call you by something.'

She turned to him. 'Why not just 'Violet Vindicator'?'

'Because it's lame', he said simply.

She thought for a moment. 'Hmm, nope! I already told you, I'm not telling you a single thing.'

'How about Spoiler?' he blurted out, unable to keep the words to himself.

Furrowing her eyebrows, she raised a questioning hand to her chin and stroked it. 'Well, I like the irony of it… 'Kay then, Spoiler it is.'

With that, she tipped her weight back and began to fall off the building. 'Smell ya later, Robin. Spoiler: out!'

He ran over to where she'd just fallen, only to find she was swinging over the busy road, and disappeared into the darkness of another alley. A smirk crawled onto his face, unable to hide his happiness at their encounter. _Our little secret._

Glancing down at the drive, he pressed his com once more. 'Robin to B and N. Do you copy?'

'Batgirl here. I read you, Robin.'

'Go ahead, dude.'

Robin rolled his eyes at Nightwing's flippant response. 'Okay, well, you'll be pleased to know I've collected some much needed intel on the Red Hood.'

'What? How?!'

 _Well I can't tell them the truth!_ 'Tracked down one of his flunkies, and he apparently had quite a bit to tell. I recorded it, so I'll let you guys know what I found out once we're back home. But anyway, I'm on my way now.'

'O-okay, Robin, see you soon. Batgirl: out.'

'Nightwing: over and out.'

With that, Robin pulled out his grappling-gun and aimed it in his Teammates' direction. And as he sailed over the busy street, he thought to himself, _Just another night in Gotham City._

 **NEW YORK CITY**

 **September 11, 10:12 EDT**

'Oh my Glorgnoff, M'gann, this is spectacular!'

The Martian, now disguised as her civilian self, looked to the Tamaranian with a smile. The two alien women stood in the middle of Time Square, looking up at the magnificent sights before them. Whilst M'gann had seen the iconic destination many times both in mission and for fun, seeing her new friend's face light up like a Christmas tree made it so much better. She'd cast a disguise over the beautiful, yet strange alien's complexion, so she appeared as a normal, yet incredibly tall, slim Caucasian with wavy, dark auburn hair and striking green eyes. She spun around, a smile clear on her lips and pearly white teeth as she stared up at the large screens and towering buildings.

'It's so incredible!' she exclaimed as she faced M'gann again. 'We have similar structures on Tamaran, but none quite like this…'

Smiling at her friend, she rested a on her shoulder. 'I'm so glad you like it, Kori, but remember; there are a lot of people around here, and their mostly consumed in their own thoughts. I mean, they didn't even recognise Henry Cavill when he stood right under that billboard for his upcoming movie*. But if you start talking about things they don't understand, they may listen in, and we can't afford to have that happen. So, when we're shopping, and we get asked… what's my name?'

'M'ga- My apologies, Megan.'

'Good', M'gann nodded. 'And what's yours?'

'Korrie. But with a 'K'.'

'And it's short for…?'

'Korrina.'

'Well done', she praised the frizzled Tamaranian. 'I'll have to check with the actual Earth girls, but I'm pretty certain you could be counted as a bona fide human.'

After she flashed her another brilliant smile, M'gann looked to her newest friend. 'Well, Korrie, whenever you're ready, let's get you some clothes

* * *

M'gann felt the bags weighing her arms down, even with Martian super-strength. They'd covered outlets such as OAK, Coclico, Barking Brown and Fanaberie. So far, they'd bought several pairs of shoes, multiple pairs of shirts, shorts, and skirts, and dresses. _So_ many dresses… To be frank, she'd begun to feel so overwhelmed, she'd forgotten which shop they were in now. She could just make out smart, classy outfits and stunning dresses.

She watched on as Koriand'r looked upon a purple ombre dress with such delight, one might've thought she'd just gotten a puppy. Glancing across at M'gann, she raised a very giddy thumb with a ecstatic smile on her face. The shapeshifter couldn't help but have a flashback to when she'd first arrived on Earth, and how innocent, naïve and excited she'd been. Oh, how she'd changed over time.

'Madame? May I 'elp you?'

Flicking around, M'gann saw a middle-aged, well-groomed woman in front of her, with blonde hair melting into silver.

Blinking, M'gann looked down at the tens of thousands of bags she was carrying. 'Uh, no, no it's fine. Just helping out friend.'

The woman glanced behind the auburn-haired girl's frame and her eyes widened in surprise, making M'gann cringe. Stealing a peak, she looked behind her to see 'Korrie' looking at a pair of high heels like they were gold. _Kori…_

Chuckling self-consciously, she looked back around to the shop assistant. 'She's from, uh, out of town. 'Loves clothes, but doesn't get out much' type, you know?'

The woman raised an eyebrow at her, the friendly face now sceptical. 'Can't say I do.'

With that, she walked off, leaving M'gann with the tens of bags and one very excitable alien.

* * *

 _Well thank Mars that that's over now,_ M'gann thought to herself as she and Kori starting sipping at their respective beverages: M'gann with her Ice Mocha and Kori… a strawberry milkshake.

After taking her first sip, Kori's eyes widened and she pulled away with a look of awe. 'This concoction, M'g- _Megan_ – it's pure brilliance!'

Giggling, she said, 'Yeah, that's what I thought when I first tried Earth drinks. Just wait until you try coffee.'

Kori looked up at her.

'Actually, maybe we'll keep you away from coffee.'

She shrugged and settled back down to her exciting, new drink, sculling it down eagerly. M'gann watched her with fascination. There was still so much that they didn't know about her and her friend, Raven. While Starfire had been completely cooperative with questions, Raven had been less than willing to open up about her past when they'd pressed for further information. M'gann had tried reading her mind once. She swore she'd never try again…

But as she sat down with the pretty, peppy alien, she took the chance to get to know her new friend. 'So Korrie, how've been finding your new life here?

'Quite the enjoyable', she said, gulping down the last of her milkshake. 'Your customs are new and strange, but you all seem extremely caring and welcoming. Especially the Team.'

'Is it very different to life on Tamaran?' she asked nonchalantly.

'Yes', she replied with enthusiasm. 'Tamaran was once a… what's the word… civilisation of peace and tranquillity. But recently, it has been ravaged by war. Children have been separated from families and either killed or the manipulated.' She looked away uncomfortably. 'I was supposed to be killed along with my older sister, but Raven rescued me before they could. I do not know what became of Komand'r, however…'

'B-but, you're the princess! They still tried to do that to you, even though you're royalty?' M'gann felt stricken by this sudden, new Koriand'r. A sad, serious one. One with many deep, dark secrets of her own. _We're so alike…_

She rested a hand on top of Kori's as tears began to form in her striking green eyes. 'I'm so sorry, Korrie. Please, if you don't want to say anymore, you don't have to. I'll more than understand.'

Kori wiped her eyes with the brush of her thumb. 'No, it is alright. I enjoy speaking with you Megan. You are very the easy to talk to.'

'I'm just trying to be your friend', she replied simply.

Deciding to change the subject, desperate to bring back happy Kori, she asked with a smirk, 'So, you seem to have grabbed a lot of the male half of the Team's attention…' _Conner, if you dare…_

She raised an eyebrow. 'Really? I have not noticed… it is my unusual complexion, yes?'

'Uh, well, it _could_ be that, but uh… I believe it's because you're very…'

Kori looked up.

'Beautiful. And it might also have something to do with your uniform.'

'My battle armour?' Kori looked sceptical. 'On Tamaran, what I wear is considered to be quite the basic and plain, especially for a princess. You should see what the women at the… I believe you call them nightclubs? You should see their attire.'

'I'd rather not', M'gann mumbled. 'But as I was saying, almost every person on the team with active testosterone is looking at you. Especially Nightwing', she said, lowering her voice.

For the first time, the Tamaranian blushed. 'What? No, no that is _glipnorf!_ Wh-why would…' she trailed off, leaving a very satisfied M'gann to quirk an eyebrow.

'Mhmm', she said, taking a sip of her Ice Mocha.

'I just… I mean… of course I find him the _intriguing_ , but surely you cannot believe that he might…' she looked up at M'gann. 'Do you really believe so, Megan?'

'Trust me, Korrie, I _know_ so. That boy's fallen hard for you.'

Her eyes sparkled with a new light. 'I knew from the moment I met him, that Richard and I would have some special connection-'

M'gann choked on her drink. _She knows his secret ID? How?! Only the originals, the Bat-family and_ maybe _Cassie and Bart know… she's barely been on the Team a month, and she already knows Mr Dark-Glasses' real name!_

'Are you alright, Megan?' Kori said worriedly.

'Fine', she coughed. 'Just slightly surprised that you know his real name.'

'Why wouldn't I?'

'It's just, Dick never really lets anyone see him beneath the mask, let alone know he really is.'

Kori blinked in surprise. 'Oh. Well, he has been very open with me. Is that because he feels an attraction toward me?'

M'gann furrowed her eyebrows, unsure of her usually rational leader's decision. 'I dunno…'

They both sat in silence for a moment, enjoying the glorious colours of New York as they sat at the quaint café. After a few minutes, M'gann glanced down at her phone to see the time.

She stretched, reached for her bag, and placed the bill on the table. 'We should probably get back to the Tower, Korrie. Training session with Dinah in half an hour, and trust me; we don't want to be late.'

Battering her eyelashes up at her friend, she smiled and stood. 'Of course.'

M'gann happily returned the smile and linked arms with her fellow alien. 'Best be off them.'

'Thanks for today, Megan.'

Looking to her friend, she said, 'Anytime, Korrie.'

And off they went, their auburn bouncing, smiles implanted permanently on their giddy faces.

 **THE WATCHTOWER**

 **September 12, 14:15 EDT**

'Ready?' Tim asked, standing in a ready-position.

'Born ready, Teen Wonder!' Cassie exclaimed, wrapping up whipping her blonde hair into the 'Messiest Ponytail of the Year'.

With that, the teenage boy ran at his Teammate, guns blazing as his muscles tensed. Just as he got to her, he pushed into a handspring that sent his straightened-out legs barrelling toward her abdomen for an almighty dropkick. She'd only been back in training for a little over a week, but Cassie was showing everyone else that it didn't mean they could go easy on her, so Tim wasn't taking any chances. Especially being her boyfriend.

Just as his feet were about to make contact, Cassie grabbed them and swung him around, sending him back the way he came. As Tim neared the ground again, only a small distance away from his sparring partner, he twisted and landed in a crouching position that Dick had nicknamed 'Spider-slut'. Naturally.

Tim pushed off again and Cassie immediately bent her knees and raised her fists, a challenging smirk crossing her face. The Boy Wonder flew at her with a flying kick, aiming for her jaw, which she promptly dodged before returning the favour; this time, sweeping his legs out from underneath him. Just before he hit the ground, he let his back curl back into a bridge before performing a walkover, ready to face his eager girlfriend once more.

'Honestly, it's like you never even took time off', he breathed out, trying to find his breath.

She smiled. 'My body took a break. Not my mind', she said, pointing to her temple.

This time, it was Tim on the defensive as Cassie threw a roundhouse kick at him. He swerved out of the way at the last second, before trying for an uppercut. With a barricaded arm, she braced against it before swinging a punch at his side. It caught him, and while Tim staggered for a brief moment, the temporarily-depowered Amazon scissor-kicked his jaw. With a millisecond to spare, he ducked.

Proceeding to a roundhouse punch aimed at her cheekbone, Tim prepared himself for her defence move. Cassie smirked as she grabbed his wrist, blocking the punch just inches from her face. Tim winced as she then twisted his arm and within a few moments, had both arms pinned behind his back. Just as he was about to hook his foot onto her ankle, he felt her warm breath against his neck, sending a shiver through his body.

Tim felt her lean in closer, and soon felt her chest against his back, strands of blond hair falling against his neck and shoulders. He tensed as she brought her lips up to his ear.

'Do you think Bruce'll mind if you head back to the B-cave sporting a few… hickeys?'

His eyes widened, and his tense body momentarily went limp. He realised his mistake too late, and only rolled his eyes at his stupidity as he lay on the beeping ground, his hysterical girlfriend standing triumphantly over.

'I… I can't believe I actually g-got you.' she managed to get out between laughs. 'Again!'

'Hi-la-ri-ous, Cass. Freakin' hilarious', he sighed as he held out an asking hand, trying to conceal his own smile.

'Well, it _was_ pretty funny', she said with a wide grin, pulling her defeated boyfriend onto his feet with ease, her powers turned back on.

Tim, unable to hide that previously concealed smile, brought her into a tight hug, surprising the perky Amazon. 'I'm so glad you're okay', he whispered, clutching at her back.

After the initial shock of her boyfriend's unusual behaviour, she returned the gesture, hugging the taller boy back with just as much intensity. 'I reckon it's because of all those Hershey's you brought me.'

He chuckled. 'I'm serious, Cass.'

'So am I!' she giggled, tightening her hold on him. 'The cuddles were _definitely_ the best medicine, though.'

When he didn't reply, Cassie pulled away from him, her hands resting on his shoulders. Her heart melted to see sombre tears in his eyes, seeping through the lock of his aqua eyes. Then he looked up at her, and it shattered.

'I was terrified, Cassie. You were looking really bad, and I wasn't sure if you were gonna…' he choked out.

'Oh Tim', she coddled, pulling him in close again. 'You're not going to get rid of me that easily. Trust me.'

She felt his body softly shake as he struggled to contain his unshed tears, and she stroked his back. He was a sensitive soul as it was, but incidents like this caused him to break down. Things like this reminded him of his past, a past that reflected the despair, revenge and bitter sadness of every member of the Bat-fam. While Cassie knew there wasn't much she could do to heal his pain, she also knew that she'd be there for his most troubled times, no matter what.

After a few moments of comforting, Tim pulled away, the only trace of his previous sadness being the slight look of bloodshot eyes. 'Okay, I'm all good, I'm good.' Cassie could tell he was trying to convince himself just as much as he was convincing her. Maybe even more.

'Good, 'cause I much prefer your killer smile to your tears, babe', she said in effort to lift the mood.

He smiled. _Mission accomplished, Cassie, mission accomplished._ 'There we are! Your reward for that smile, Mr Drake', she said, bowing before bolting upright to plant a kiss full on his lips.

The contact didn't last long, however, as Aqualad's clueless voice came over the loudspeaker. 'Team; mission briefing in the Clearing. Requesting Kid Flash, Blue Beetle, Supergirl, Robin and Wonder Girl.'

Looking back at her boyfriend, Cassie and Tim shared an understanding look.

'How's that saying go again?' the blond asked with a raised eyebrow. ''Saved by the bell'?'

Pulling out his domino mask, Tim simply shook his head, sliding into Robin-mode. 'Come on, Wonder Girl, we've got work to do.'

* * *

'Thank you for arriving swiftly, everyone', Aqualad said politely, addressing today's Alpha Squad. His eyebrows furrowed as his gaze rested on Supergirl, however.

'Kara, I would _deeply_ appreciate it if you were to take that gum out of your mouth.'

The rest of the assembled team cast their eyes to the wide-eyed Kryptonian, Kid Flash and Blue Beetle snickering as she let the piece of purple gum roll out of her mouth onto her open palm. The two boys then applauded as she flung it over to a far-off garbage can.

The quiet smile returned to Kaldur's face as he nodded to the reluctant teen girl. 'Thank you, Supergirl. Now, we may proceed on with the meeting.'

Standing to the side, a holograph appeared before the teenagers, with an image that made all but Supergirl uncomfortable. Aqualad's eyes reflected a sad, and somewhat guilty sort of recognition as well.

The blonde started laughing nervously. 'Woah guys, who killed the mood?'

Taking in a deep breath, Aqualad turned to them again. 'Kara, this is where the Team was previously based. I'm sure the other members would've informed you of Mount Justice?'

Suddenly, she froze, and cast her gaze down, scuffling her red boots awkwardly. 'Oh, um… yeah, they did. I've just uh… never seen images of it…'

Robin cleared his throat, causing the rest of the squad to straighten up and focus again. 'What's our mission, Aqualad?'

'Right, thank you, Robin', their leader said, pulling himself out of his daze. 'The JLA sensors on the Watchtower managed to detect an unknown energy impulse from the centre of the Cave's debris.'

Robin couldn't help but nudge Kid Flash. 'You having déjà vu as well?'

Kid Flash just stared at the hologram in bewilderment, and undeniable wonder and curiosity.

'As is a very similar incident as Bart's arrival… Kid Flash?' Aqualad said, looking to the brunette speedster. 'You'll be leading this mission.'

Blue Beetle looked to his best friend in surprise, offering his fist. 'Dude, congrats! First time as leader, and it's Alpha!'

Kid Flash fist-bumped the Hispanic absent-mindedly, his eyes not leaving the screen and leader before them. He gave a solemn, respectful nod to Aqualad, causing his Teammates to glance cautiously at him, surprised by this new Bart.

'Jaime makes an excellent point, which is why if you require assistance, or feel unable or unready to fulfil whatever leadership roles come your way, Robin will your immediate support. A co-leader, if you will. He has acquired much experience being a squad leader, and realises the challenge of taking on such heavy responsibilities.' Turning to the Bat-protégé, he added, 'I assume you are alright with being handed this role?'

'More than happy to, Aqualad', Robin replied, a polite smile planted on his face.

With a satisfied look on his face, the leader looked upon his present members, said a few brief words of encouragement, and sent them off.

 **HAPPY HARBOUR**

 **September 12, 16:43 EDT**

As the Bioship began its stealthy decent, Supergirl let out a big breath, closing her eyes. After all, she was still new to the Team, and she always got a bit nervous when she wasn't on a mission with Clark or Conner. Sure, being on a squad with Jaime and Bart always calmed her down, but Bart was being strangely distant, and Jaime, in his blue suit, the black colours integrated into it, highlighting his shape and muscles…

 _By the name of El, Kara, get your head out of the clouds, your eyes away from Mr. Distracting, and focus on the mission!_

Peeling her eyes away from the ripped teenage boy, she shook her head and looked out of the window instead. Only to regret doing so.

She'd heard that the mountain had been blown up, but she guess she hadn't expected it to look this downtrodden and defeated. What once must've been a proud landscape now looked like a dishevelled war-zone. Glancing over at the rest of her Team, she saw they all had loss written plain on their faces. Even poker-faced Robin, at the helm of the vessel, looked forlornly over their former base.

Supergirl was suddenly jerked back into the real world by the impact of the Bioship landing.

'Sorry!' Robin squeaked, 'Still learning to drive this thing.'

'All good, amigo', Blue Beetle said, unclipping himself from his seat.

As they made their way out of the ship, Supergirl flew up beside Wonder Girl, who was rubbing her arm subconsciously. Nudging her playfully with her elbow, she grinned at her fellow, feminine powerhouse. 'Y'all right?'

'Hm?' Wonder Girl replied, as though she'd just woken up. 'Oh, yeah, yeah I'm fine. It's just kinda weird being back here, you know?'

'Yeah', Supergirl muttered. She could tell that the young Amazon just wanted to be left to her own thoughts, so she let herself fall behind and ran up to Bart.

'So, chief, what'd you want me to do?' she asked happily.

Kid Flash looked to her, any signs of humour were far from his eyes. 'Could you take Wonder Girl and scan the perimeter? Remember to be stealthy', he said as he jumped a large chunk of rock.

 _He's so not himself…_ Worried, she rested a hand on his shoulder and looked into the shorter boy's eyes. 'Everything okay, KF? You just seem a little… different.'

His green eyes met her blue ones, appreciation clear. 'I'm fine, Supergirl. Just a little anxious about what lays ahead.'

Her eyes widened. 'Sh-should the rest of us be anxious?'

'No no, don't worry. I've just got a few things running through my head right now', he said with an air of finality. Supergirl could see that he didn't want to be pressed any further, so she flew back to her place beside Wonder Girl.

'Hey', she greeted, hovering just above the ground. 'KF wants to us check out the area. Scout for any activity.'

Blinking out her daze, Wonder Girl looked up at her and gave a curt nod, raising off the ground. The two young women flew up until they had a clear view of the total area of destruction beneath. Their blond hair billowed in the wind, clear blue eyes narrowed for even a flicker of movement. If so much as a leaf blew down from whatever remained of the nearby forest, they'd know.

Supergirl, being the more inexperienced, looked to Wonder Girl for clarity. The Amazon pointed to a rock pile beneath them, and following a respectful nod from Supergirl, the two made their way down toward it. Wonder Girl, having been called out way too many times for 'sucking at being Stealther Girl', had learnt to watch her movements, and landed as softly as a feather. Looking behind her, she realised she couldn't say the same about Supergirl as the young Kryptonian's foot clipped a nearby mound of rock. This sent the eager, unwary girl spiralling toward the ground, landing with an almighty _crash_.

Getting to feet, not a scratch clear in sight, she looked to her partner and mouthed, 'Sorry!'

Wonder Girl, feeling empathetic toward the 'new girl', offered a small, dismissive smile. However, with the sound of a rocks shuffling behind them, the smile quickly disappeared and the Amazon swerved around, fists held ready for combat. Supergirl super-sped over to her side. Looking to Wonder Girl for permission, she waited oh-so patiently (uh, _not!_ ) as she thought for a moment, before nodding.

Turning back to the direction of the noise, Supergirl narrowed her eyes and let x-ray vision take over. Seeing through the rock concealing their location to whoever was on the other side, she scouted around, before she caught sight of a figure bent over. _Found ya, 'unidentified energy impulse',_ she thought, letting a small smile onto her face.

She desperately wanted them to turn around, to see who was most likely the source of Aqualad's curiousity, but they refused to move. But only for a few moments, as they soon straightened up, giving Supergirl full vision of their face. _No... you!_

Taking an angry step back, fury bristling, teeth and fists clenched, she could vaguely see Wonder Girl's incredulous look as she tensed.

Keeping her voice at a whisper, the Amazon looked to the other girl. Not like she was looking beack at her, though. Not like she was even listening. 'Supergirl, what'd you s- _no!_ ' she screamed as the suddenly furious Kryptonian bowled through the rock.

 _Not him… NOT HIM!_ , she thought as she rocketed toward the shocked figure. _Not Brainiac!_

Just as she was about to punch the stupid look off his stupid face, he raised a hand. And suddenly, Supergirl couldn't, frozen mid-air, two feet above the ground. The only thing she could move was her head, so she made sure to let him know just how angry she was. _Oh, if I could move right now, you pathetic, emotionless robot, I'd freaking slap your-_

'Please, Kara Zor-El, do not fret', he said monotonously, yet there was the slightest hint of sympathy in his tone. 'I do not wish to cause you any harm.'

'Oh, I'd just like to see you try', she spat. Literally spat. In his face.

His eyebrows raised momentarily before he swiped the saliva off his interesting complexion. Looking up again, Supergirl realised his attention was behind her. Moving her eyes as much as she could, she managed to see Wonder Girl coming at the green figure, fists ready. Once more, he merely froze her.

'Cassandra Sandsmark, as I was just explaining to your…' he paused, looking for the right word, 'companion, I do not wish to cause you, or any of your Teammates harm.'

Her eyebrows raised in curiosity; she wasn't too worried, as she somehow felt he was being sincere in his words. 'Who are you?'

Just as the purple-eyed stranger began to open his mouth, Supergirl growled beside the frozen teen, ' _It's_ name is Brainiac. It's an Artificial Intelligence with the most evil mind you've ever encountered, and doesn't have any regard for any form of life. Before Krypton was destroyed, Brainiac was known around our galactic cluster as one of the most notorious anti-life machines to have ever been created. It has this desire to become smarter and acquire more knowledge, and it believes the best way of doing that is by stealing a city and minimising it… before it destroys the entire planet.'

Wonder Girl's eyes widened, as if that information had suddenly unlocked something within her mind. 'I remember now! A couple of years ago, this crazed, alien lunatic put a dome around Metropolis, trapping some of our members. The city started to shrink, but before it got too small, we managed to stop him. Said his name was the 'Brainiac of Izod', whatever that meant… But this guy… you're saying he's _him_?' she asked. _'Cause this guy's actually kinda cute… the_ other _guy, though… definitely_ not _cute._

'I know who you are mistaking me for, but I am not him. I am somewhat of a descendant of the original. Please, allow me to properly introduce myself', he said, stepping forward to the two teen girls, placing a hand on his uniformed chest. 'My name is Brainiac 5, I originate from the 31st century, and am a founding member of a group known formally as the Legion of Superheroes.'

Wonder Girl raised an eyebrow. 'Legion of who in the what now?'

Supergirl simply scoffed. 'Superhero? Yeah right, if I believe you're a superhero, I'd believe that pigs could fly!'

This stranger, Brainiac 5, rolled his purple eyes and looked to Wonder Girl. 'I can see you are curious. Perhaps you would like to use your legendary Lasso of Truth on me? Clarify on which truth to believe?'

Wonder Girl looked down for a moment in wonder. Her lasso was certainly the best bet in their current situation, but she was still sceptical about it. If used correctly and in the appropriate manner, it was unstoppable and could force the darkest truths out of the more secretive people. But she'd barely used it, and Diana hadn't focused her training so much on the magical properties of their shared weapon. Diana had always seemed to have had enough faith in her to believe she'd know what to do when the time came.

'My sensors are picking up an increased heartrate. You are unsure of yourself', Brainiac 5 concluded. He raised his hand in a clenched fist before quickly relaxing it, and as he did, Wonder Girl felt her gain full control of her body again. Looking up in surprise at the futuristic alien, she was even more surprised to see a smile on his face. 'I wish you to stress-free as possible while performing this action, hence why I have released you.

'I meant to do it earlier', he said with a slightly darker green flush across his cheek, amusing Wonder Girl. 'Please accept my sincere apologies in not doing so.'

'All good, Brainy', Wonder Girl chuckled, unclipping her lasso from her side before taking it in both hands. She was already fairly certain that Brainiac 5 was nothing like his predecessor, but too many times she and other members of the Team hadn't taken precautions, and it had blown up in their collective face. She was _not_ going to make that mistake this time.

Looking down at the golden lasso, she took in a deep breath. _Come on, Cass. It's really not that hard. Just slip it over his torso, say the incantation and ask the questions! …piece of cake…_

As Brainiac 5 made his way toward her, she swung the lasso around her head before releasing it, letting it wrap itself tight around his upper body. Wonder girl let out a breath once she realised she'd been holding it. _OMG, this is so cool! I've seen Diana do this sooo many times, and now I finally get to do it myself!_

Then her mentor's voice rang clear in her head, _Little less fangirl, little more Wonder Girl._

With that in mind, she crossed her eyebrows, puffed her chest slightly, and raised the clenched hand which held the almighty lasso in it, and with a defiant voice stated, 'The Lasso compels you to speak the truth.'

Immediately, the already golden rope glowed brilliantly in the grim, dark landscape that surrounded them. Behind her, Wonder Girl could faintly hear Supergirl say in an awe-filled voice, 'Cool…'

Looking back to the person before her, she demanded, 'Who are you?'

Unblinkingly, Brainiac 5 replied with, 'My name is Querl Dox, more commonly known as Brainiac 5, the fifth instalment of the original Brainiac. I am improved and have reconfigured myself, so now my goal in life is to explore the world of humans to try to be more like them.'

'When and where are you from?'

'I have travelled to the early 21st century from later in this one, from the year 2056, but I originate from the 31st century, from a place known in this era as the United States of America.'

Wonder Girl pressed further. 'What are your intentions and motives?'

A serious look flashed across the young alien's face. 'To warn the heroes of this era that a great darkness is approaching, one which will leave the Earth in utter devastation, and to help them in preventing this darkness from assuming total control over the Earth.'

 _What?_ Wonder Girl's eyes widened in fear, and she turned to see Supergirl behind her, still frozen, looking back at her with the same expression. _Now to ask if he knows who or what this darkness is-_

'Wonder Girl?!' a voice called out from behind them. Loosening her grip on the lasso, she turned to see Robin relieved face as he pelted toward her, before enveloping her in a hug.

'Oh my God, I was so worried… we didn't radio just in case you were in a situation where that would've been a bad idea, so we all walked around, hoping to find you. Thank heaven we did…' he trailed off as his attention moved from his girlfriend to the strange, green person in front of him. Stepping aside, he pulled out two birdarangs and narrowed his eyes at Brainiac 5.

'Wonder Girl, have your lasso at ready.'

Chuckling, she grabbed his arm and gently got him to lower the birdarangs. 'Chill, babe. This is Brainiac 5, he's on our side; I interrogated him with the Lasso.'

Whilst Robin's mouth hung open, Supergirl scoffed from behind. 'You call _that_ an interrogation? You should see the one's they held in Argo City…'

'Yo-you used the Lasso? As in the Truth side of it?' After Wonder Girl nodded, beaming at her boyfriend, she high-fived his raised hand. 'Oh, Cass, good for you! I'm so proud.'

'I do not mean to interrupt', said a voice from behind, and the three of them turned to see Brainy looking up at them all, 'but may I extract myself from your tool?'

'Oops! Sorry, of course', Wonder Girl said, pulling the lasso back to her side.

After performing the same hand gesture on Supergirl that he did to release Wonder Girl, Brainiac 5 turned to the newest arrival, he extended his hand. 'Greetings. I am Brainiac 5, and you must be Red Robin.'

'Uh, it's actually just Robin', covered Robin quickly, but not without a thought running through his head. _That's actually a pretty cool name._ 'And it's good to meet you.'

Looking behind his new acquaintance, Brainiac 5 spoke up. 'And this is Blue Beetle.'

The Hispanic's amber eyes widened in shock. 'Huh? What'd I miss?'

'Kid Flash should be here soon too, I'm guessing', Supergirl huffed, resting her hands on her hips.

For once, Brainiac 5 looked to the Kryptonian. 'Kid Flash? As in Wallace West?'

'Wally?' Blue Beetle gazed up, sadness reflected in his eyes. 'No, sorry _hermano_ , he sacrificed himself for the world last year…'

For some odd reason, the time-travelling alien looked confused, yet nodded his head slowly. 'O-of course. Forgive me for bringing up the sensitive topic. I seemed to have forgotten that part of my history book.'

'History book?' Blue Beetle and Robin looked at the green person in wonder.

Wonder Girl simply smiled and turned to her friends. 'Brainy's from the 31st century.'

'Brainy?!'

This time, everyone whirled around to see Kid Flash standing in front of them, his mouth hanging open like every time he went to the fridge. It took half a millisecond for him to then sprint to his side and give the fellow time-traveller the most almighty hug.

'Q! Dude! I knew that was you Aqualad detected! I can't believe you're here! Why are you here? Is Nathaniel okay? Did it all work? I have so much to show you. It's great being in 2017!' the young speedster spilled out.

While the rest of the Team stood flabbergasted, Brainiac 5 patted his head somewhat affectionately. 'It is good to see you as well, Bart Allen, but the pleasantries must be saved for later. I must answer all your questions in further detail, but to sum it all up, no, your mission did not succeed. Earth is still a living dystopia, and is in chaos.'

KF's face immediately fell. 'But you changed the life of Nathaniel. He was never an inmate at Belle Reve Prison, and the Reach has been eliminated as a threat. But if you come now, I will be able to inform you and the rest of your Team.'

'I'm so confused right now', Robin muttered, shaking his head, but he then looked to Bart. 'With your word, KF, we can do what Brainiac 5 suggested and head back to the Watchtower.'

Kid Flash nodded swiftly, and pointed to the direction of where they'd left the Bioship. Just as Wonder Girl was about to walk off, however, she noticed Supergirl was still behind, staring up at the sky, searching through every cloud with her brilliant blue eyes.

'What're you doing?' Wonder Girl chuckled, looking at her friend.

'Trying to find some flying pigs', she replied nonchalantly, not taking her gaze from the sky above.

The Amazon couldn't help but laugh as she pulled the other blonde away from her spot and towards the awaiting vessel. 'C'mon, you idiot, we gotta beat those boys back to the ship! I so wanna be the first to tell the others about this, don't you?'

But as the Kryptonian let her eager friend drag her off, she couldn't help but think to herself, _I swear on my mother's name, Brainiac 5, or whoever the hell you really are; you dare touch this planet or anyone of it's inhabitants, I_ will _kill you…_

* * *

 **YES, I KNOW IT WAS LONG AF, BUT IT WAS SOOOO MUCH FUN TO WRITE! :D**

 **Btw, I already have a plan for the next chapter, and IM hoping it'll leave you guys like 0.o I'm kinda having the next one as a bit of a mid season finale...? SO IT'LL BE HUGE!**

 **but anyway, C 11 is currently looking quite unoccupied sooooo...**

 **WHO'D YOU LIKE TO SEE?**

 **WHAT YOU LIKE TO SEE HAPPEN?**

 **ANYBODY YOU WANT TO BE LIKE 'HEY, HAVENT BEEN HERE IN AWHILE, BUT SUUUUUP?!'?**

* * *

 **QUESTION OF THE CHAPTER: Most/Least Favourite DC hero? I'm talking about everyone, even people like Harley Quinn, Red Hood and Black Adam who've even been considered kinda heroes here and there...**

 **Mine would be Most: Babs G as Batgirl(so freakin badass, especially in New 52)/and then Powergirl... I'm sorry! i just don't really like her...**

* * *

 **Remember to Review, Favourite and Follow :)**

 **Much love xx**

 **~SpitfireWestAllen15**


	11. Chapter 10: Six Feet Under (Part 1)

**AUTHOR NOTE: Hey everybodyyyyyy!**

 **I'm so sorry I haven't updated sooner; shit's been going on in my life and I've been a bit distracted, so haven't been able to write effectively. YJ Season three is looking less and less likely to happen (NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!) which gives me even more reason not to let you guys down and keep going with this fic :)**

 **You may notice that this chapter has a 'part 1' on it? these next two chps are kinda like a mid season finale type thing, so I want to cram in as much as possible. You may also notice that only one setting is used in this. This is cause the Batfam is so messed (still love em) that there's so much i needed to address. I'm gonna start work on part 2 immediately after publishing this :)**

 **Also, i have a confession to make... I've recently started watching this french show called Miraculous Ladybug. It's childish, cliche-central, sucky plotlines and yeah... AND I LOVE IT! I DONT KNOW WHY BUT I LOVE IT! #FeedAdrien k i feel better now. probs gonna start writing some little fluff stories for this sooooooo, yeah**

 **On a good note, SUICIDE SQUAD IS OUT IN TWO MONTHS WOOOHOOOO! so excited. AND BVS ULTIMATE CUT (CONTAINING BABS OMG IM GONNA DIE) IS COMING OUT JUST BEFORE. *faints out of inability to wait any longer cos it's so exciting***

 **JUSTICE LEAGUE HAS STARTED FILMING. DARKSEID'S DADDY IS THE VILLAIN**

 **WONDER WOMAN FINISHED FILMING. WONDER GAL IS BAE**

 **Without further ado, ENJOY CHAPTER 10: PART 1**

* * *

 **CHAPTER 10: Six Feet Under (Part 1)**

 **GOTHAM CITY**

 **September 13, 18:59**

'Am I straight?' Dick Grayson said, facing his younger brother, Tim Drake, as he tried to adjust his sky blue tie.

Tim scoffed. 'All the women in there'll be hoping you are. Your tie isn't crooked, by the way.'

Beaming, the young man slapped his brother playfully. 'I can't believe that after all these years, we've finally gotten rid of Mr Uptight!'

He blushed softly. 'I-I'm not uptight! Just… cautionary… and careful…'

'Mhmm', he mumbled, not believing a word the teenager said. 'And, he's back.'

Looking to the mirror to fix his own appearance, Tim growled, 'Whatever…'

After a few moments of silence, Dick turned back to him again as he ran the smallest amount of gel through his thick hair. 'So… Is Cassie coming tonight?'

'To be honest, I'm not sure', Tim replied calmly. 'Said she was training with Diana earlier in the afternoon, and thought she might be a bit pushed for time, but she also said she'd do everything in her power to make it.'

Dick smiled. 'I think you've got yourself a keeper, Tim. Don't screw it up.'

'Actually, I think she wanted to come so badly to let everyone know I'm taken', he chuckled. Then something occurred to the younger hero. 'But what about you? Are you and Barb showing off as an item tonight? Or has Starfire disrupted whatever balance there was between you two?'

Furrowing his eyebrows, Dick looked to the younger boy, genuinely confused. What on Earth was he talking about? Whatever had gone wrong with him and Barbara in the past was put behind them, they'd moved on, and they were okay with that. Well, Dick was okay with that. Sort of. But what did Kori have to do with any of it?

'Starfire?' Dick asked.

'Dude, everyone can see she's really into you. Including Barbara', Tim answered as Dick practically face-palmed himself.

'Gah, seriously, I'm just helping Kori settle in; can't you see that?' he exclaimed exasperatedly. 'She's been through so much in her life, I'm just trying to make her feel like she's welcome and safe somewhere, for once. Babs' supposed to be the rational one… besides, she's told me time and time again that I'm not ready for her. So, sorry to come off as a dog once more, but I'm trying to live my life and if that involves liking Kori, then so be it!' he nearly yelled, somehow managing to stay somewhat silent with the waiting guests outside.

'Did I hear correctly, Mr Grayson?' Tim said a mocking smile, not affected by the outburst in the slightest. 'That you like Ms Koriand'r?'

'Shut up before I gel your hair', he said half-jokingly. Tim still snickered, but slunk back to behind the curtain fold as they listened out for the commencement of the gala.

They didn't have to wait too long, as the cliché sound of trumpets sounded. Dick and Tim looked to one another, eyes rolling at their adoptive father's antiques. The sound of clapping soon echoed around the room below them, and they soon heard Bruce's 'billionaire Bruce Wayne' voice boom through the ballroom.

'Good evening, ladies and gentlemen! I'd just like to start off by thanking all of you here tonight for your generous donations. All proceeds will go the Wayne Family Foundation, a charity for the families of Gotham who've gone through extreme distress and loss in their lives.' The billionaire looked down for a moment, hands tightening around the lectern, leaving some members of the audience sympathetic or uncomfortable. Dick, however, knew it was all an act.

Looking up again, Bruce continued on to say, 'Now, I don't want to steal too much of your time, but I'd also like to thank the people who made tonight possible. Mrs Felicity Stanford, the owner of this impressive facility, Commissioner James Gordon, for providing us all with the best security this side of Metropolis tonight, and every other night. Mr and Mrs Bertarelli, for the amazing catering services and dishes served before you. And finally', he paused, looked toward the curtain, lifted his hand in welcoming and smiled the first genuine smile the boys had seen all night, 'my two wards, Richard Grayson and Timothy Drake, for all their care, spirit and support through the years. These boys have been the best family I could've asked for. I'd like you all to help me welcome them here tonight.'

The second the two walked through the curtain, applause rose up in the crowd, along with a few girly squeals and wofl-whistles as they walked over toward their father figure. Knowing his teeth had been brushed to perfection, Dick raised a waving hand, the other stuff into his pocket, and flashed a winning smile at the people below.

'Becky, OMG, Dick Grayson just looked at me!'

'Shut up, Jenny; Tim Drake _winked_ at me!'

Turning to his younger brother, the teen shrugged his shoulders. Dick couldn't help but chuckle.

As they came to stand by Bruce, the older man rested one hand on each of the boys' shoulders. Looking to both of them, Dick knew that Bruce couldn't hide the look of pride on his face. No matter how they'd drifted apart through the years, both of them knew there'd always be a special bond between the two of them, one that could never be destroyed.

Bruce made eye-contact with their audience once more and addressed them, saying, 'I think I can speak for the three of us when I say how grateful we are for you all here tonight. Now please, let the ball commence!'

Immediately, the crowd dissipated and small clusters were made, a few couples swaying as the music picked up. Bruce then turned to the two of them, and normal-Bruce was back in his place.

'I meant all of that, by the way', he said in his deeper, darker tone, yet love still managed to climb into it as well. 'I'm incredibly proud of the both of you, but I need you to continue to make me proud. Whilst this _is_ a social fundraising event first and foremost, I also need you to be on alert throughout the night.'

'Consider it done', Tim replied with a respectful nod.

'Sure thing, Bruce', Dick said. 'I'll see if I can find Barbara as well. She is part of the team, after all.'

'Of course', he said, before patting both their shoulders and making a move towards a group of swooning women.

Dick turned to his younger brother to start some small talk as they walked down the grand staircase, but Tim's phone interrupted his thoughts, and as the 16-year-old pulled it out, his face lit up. 'Cassie's here!' He immediately cast his eyes to the crowd as they continued to walk down, until his mouth dropped as he locked his eyes onto something. _Or someone…_ Dick thought with a smirk. Following his line of vision, he spotted Tim's blond girlfriend at the glass door, looking as pretty as ever with a baby pink, knee-length dress, with her hair swept up neatly into wavy ponytail.

Looking back to his side, he saw that Tim had already left, and was halfway across the room. _Go get her, tiger._

Letting out a sigh of contentment, he made his way down the staircase, his hands stuffed into his pockets. As he reached the floor, he looked around, seeing if he could recognise anyone. Celebrities, rich people, fangirls, members of government, Dick got tired of looking until his eyes made someone.

Walking over, he raised a friendly hand and called out, 'Hey Comish, how're you tonight?'

Jim Gordon turned around and his face lit up, a toothy grin smiling back at him. 'Dick Grayson, well I'll be darned! What brings you back to our quaint, humble city?' he joked as he shook the young man's hand gingerly.

'Definitely the tranquillity of Gotham', he chuckled back. Glancing around briefly, he then turned back to the older man. 'You haven't seen Barbara by any chance, have you?'

''Fraid not, son. You'll let me know if you find her though, won't you?'

'Of course, Jim', Dick promised. 'I'll look around now. See you later, Comish!'

With that, he walked off, still keeping his eyes peeled for the red-haired woman. Suddenly, the song changed, and Dick felt himself start walking to the beat of a more orchestral version of Lana Del Ray's 'Young and Beautiful'. He walked through the crowd, most of which had paired off and begun dancing with their loved ones. Looking around, he saw Tim and Cassie, the former's head resting on the latter's chest, eyes closed and smiling peacefully as they swayed with the song. It was cute, and Dick couldn't help but remember back to the times when Barbara had been his date, and they'd been in the exact same position.

 _Thought you said you remembered what was happening on Sunday ni- wow…_

Dick's own thoughts trailed off as he stopped short, unable to do anything but take in the sight before him.

There she was. Barbara Gordon, wearing the dress Dick Grayson had so sweetly bought for her. He knew it was going to look good on her, he just didn't realise how good. Tiny toes peeped out from gold heels, which were almost concealed thanks to the floor-length, sparkling, navy blue dress that highlighted her curvaceous, yet muscular body. The straps at the top hung off the sides of her bare shoulders, which then took Dick's line of vision to her face. Blue eyes were dusted with dark, navy eyeshadow, mascara made her already-long eyelashes stand out, and a deep red lipstick matched her hair, which was all falling over one shoulder.

Dick, realising he was currently at a stand-still, moved to talk to the stunning, young woman. Stunning. Gorgeous. Exquisite. Ravishing. Striking. Dazzling. Whatever word he thought of, it wasn't enough to describe the incredible beauty before him. As he neared her, she saw him, flashing that pearly-white smile that attracted so many. _Gulp._

'Hey Babs', he greeted, grinning at her, trying desperately to keep his cool. 'I see you wore the dress.'

'What, this old thing?' she joked, marvelling at the flowing gown. 'But yeah, I mean, you went to the effort to actually buy it and I'm not gonna lie; when you first told me, I thought it was gonna be the dodgiest, sluttiest thing but this', she glanced down at it once more. 'This is incredible. You really outdid yourself, Dick. Thank you', she whispered, sincerity clinging on every word as she hugged her best friend. He didn't wait a second to hug her back.

The embrace was over far too soon, however, as the ginger girl pulled back, taking in the surroundings before them. 'Looks like Bruce and his decorators outdid themselves too! This place looks amazing…'

Dick couldn't stop himself. 'Not the only thing that looks amazing tonight.'

Turning to look at him, Dick was surprised to see her laugh. Smiling, she looked up at him, her sky blue eyes shining. 'Can't stop being a womaniser for one moment, can you?'

There was no mockery, no disgust, no sarcasm in her words, only light-hearted teasing. He smiled softly, looking at her giddy face as she eyed off the entire ballroom. His eyes trailed down her body, taking in every dip, every curve, every mole on her fair arms, until he reached her hand. It was right there, it wasn't like he hadn't held it before. _Man up, Grayson…_

Her eyes widened, her body stiffened, and she turned sharply at the zing of electricity that came from her hand. Glancing down, Dick stifled a chuckle as she saw his hand encasing hers, her mouth making an 'o' shape. When she looked back up at him, shock was still written clear on her brilliant, blue eyes.

'M'lady', he mused, lifting her hand up to his lips, touching her soft fingers ever so lightly. A mischievous smile and quirked eyebrow masked his insecurities about what he was about to do. He still didn't understand why he was so nervous this time.

'Would you care to be the first woman here tonight lucky enough to dance with Bludhaven's Most Eligible Bachelor?' he asked with a wink. Satisfaction flooded his heart, making it flutter as she looked away, pinkness dusting her cheeks.

Clearing her throat, Barbara straightened up and curtsied, playing along with his charade. 'It would be your pleasure, Mr Grayson.'

' _My_ pleasure?' he chuckled as they made their way to the floor.

'Yes, _your_ pleasure. After all, it's not every night that you get to dance with the Commissioner's overachieving, stunning, and badass daughter', she smirked with a sideways glance at her best friend.

'Actually, yeah', Dick admitted, humour still driving his actions. 'I can vouch for all those things.'

She giggled, before both realised they'd made it to the middle of the dancefloor, just as the chorus of the song lifted.

Clearly confident in herself and her actions, Barbara faced him, eyes locking on his as she placed her free hand on his shoulder and raised their locked ones up. Dick felt his own free hand lift itself up, before coming to rest on the dip of her waist. And with that, they began gliding across the dancefloor.

Dick couldn't seem to take his eyes off her, no matter how hard he tried. Barb always managed to snag his attention when he least expected it, but tonight, there was some beauty, some radiance about her that stopped him from looking anywhere but her. _Could be the dress… maybe?_ he thought, yet another little voice in his head popped up, saying, _Dude, you've seen her dressed up like this more times than you'd like to count. Maybe, just maybe, it's 'cause she finally got under your skin._

 _But Babs' always been under my skin. But tonight, it's like-_

 _She's got you wrapped around her little finger, yeah. That's 'cause you are, Grayson. Ain't nothing ever gonna change that._

'Dick!'

'Huh, what?' His eyes widened as the voice called him back into the real world. He looked down, and his eyes immediately crossed as he realised Barb was just an inch from his face. Seeing she'd brought him back, Barbara lowered herself back to her slightly elevated stance, a foot from him now.

After chuckling softly, she looked up at him. 'I asked you like, ten times if you'd heard anything about Hood?'

'Uh… Robin, Hood?' he asked sheepishly.

This received a face-palm from his partner. 'Yeah, sure, Robin Hood, because he's on our hit-list- no, you idiot, _Red_ Hood. You know, the guy we saw parading around with a dozen heads?'

It was Dick's turn to face-palm. 'Yeah, right… sorry, forgot about him for a moment.' He sighed, looking away, eyes narrowing as his gaze mazed through the people around them, as though the brown, black and red clad culprit would suddenly burst out from them. 'And no, nothing since Tim brought that USB drive back.'

He looked back to the now very serious Barbara Gordon, steel blue eyes softening. 'But c'mon, Babs, even if it's just for tonight, let's enjoy the moment. No work, no Batman, no villains hell-bent on creating destruction, just the two of us. Haven't had a lot of that recently, and I've missed it. I've missed you.'

The fiery red-head hadn't been entirely focused on his words, as she gazed around the room, and Dick's shoulders slumped when she said, 'Adorable, Richard, but right now, I have a bad feeling that some crazy business is about to go down. Come on', she instructed as she pulled away, heading for the staircase.

Dick shook his head, but pelted straight after her. 'Seriously, Babs, did you have all of the chill pounded out of you at birth or something?'

'I have chill!' she protested, still keeping focus on the ascending stairs before he, leaping them two at time, while Dick took three to catch up. 'I just get into the zone when a mission calls, which is what used to happen to this other person I know, before they went all AWOL and crazy. Now, they have too much chill.'

He groaned. 'At least let me run back to grab Tim and Cassie.'

She wheeled around to face him. 'No way! They're having a little romantic moment, and you are _not_ going to spoil it for them.'

As she spun back to recommence sprinting, Dick rolled his eyes. 'Oh sure, _they_ get to have a moment, but if your girl's a redhead and nearly 21, then absolute, definite no.'

'I'm not your girl', Barbara retorted.

Dick simply scoffed. 'Yeah, good luck telling that to our parental figures.'

'What's my dad and Bruce got to do with this?'

'Just about everything. You know they see us as a couple, right? I believe the proper, scientific term for it is 'shipping'.'

'Right, of course they do… by the way, though, if I'm your _anything_ ', she mused as she pulled out her uniform, 'I'm your sugar momma.'

Dick couldn't help but scoff as he fitted his domino mask to his face. 'Is that so? Care to elaborate?'

'Well, it's no secret that I've saved your butt on multiple occasions, both physically _and_ financially. We both know where you'd be without my constant funding. So therefore', she drawled, pulling her inertrite-lined head piece over her eyes before holding her hands out plainly. 'I'm your sugar momma.'

He laughed. ''Kay then, _sugar momma_ , would you care to explain why exactly we're missing out on the party again to run along rooftops when there's no obvious reason for us to?'

Rolling her eyes, she clipped her utility belt on and replied with, 'Because this sugar momma currently has that feeling of sheer panic in her stomach, kinda like what you feel when you haven't finished a paper that's due the next day. Not that this sugar momma has ever actually experienced that.'

'Anyway, back on topic… I'm curious and, believe it or not, I really would like to enjoy the rest of the night, dancing without a care, and the only way I feel I can do that is to check that everything's okay this side of Crime Alley.'

Dick looked at her incredulously as he pulled on his boots. 'Wait a second; you mean to tell me that we're missing out on champagne and laughing at rich, old people _because you have a hunch_?'

'Yep.'

Dick could've strangled her there and then. Or laughed his head off. He really wasn't sure.

Looking on at she adjusted her bright yellow gloves, he finally fully took in her new getup. The combination of dark grey, yellow, black and dusty purple worked incredibly well with her fair skin and fiery hair, which had somehow gotten redder over the past year. Her clear blue eyes had become electric, radiating with a passion for everything she did. There was no denying that Barbara Eileen Gordon was a beauty; with or without the mask.

'Dick!'

'Huh, yeah wha?' he muttered, coming out of his daze.

Barbara, now fully donning her Batgirl attire, scoffed and looked over the young vigilante. 'Very coherent use of language, Grayson. I just called your name for the fifth time, asking if you were ever gonna finish becoming Nightwing, or do you need a hand putting your _gwoves_ on?' she mock-pouted.

All flustered behaviour gone, Dick replied with a confident smile, wiggling his eyebrows. 'Would you, m'lady?'

Rolling her eyes, she made her way over and took Dick's hand in her own. 'What would you do without me?' she added with a sigh as she fastened the strap of the glove on.

'Haven't a clue.'

'Neither do I', she said as she finished, completing Nightwing's look.

Realising their hands were still held, Batgirl looked up at her partner and saw she was so close, she could actually partially see through the white cover of his eyes to see him staring back at her longingly. An unspoken conversation passed between the two young heroes, one full of many stolen glances, missed opportunities, unwarranted arguments, before all of it cleared, leaving only them in the there and now. That moment right then was all that mattered.

Batgirl saw his line of vision move from the locked position of her eyes to the curves and crevices of her lips, which she subconsciously licked. Nightwing's eyelids begun to slowly close and he leaned in toward her, and an anticipation-filled fire blazed in her stomach. She felt her eyelashes flutter, her mouth open slightly as she leaned toward him as well, tilting her head to the side slightly. Their locked hands separated, letting Nightwing's glide toward her waist, and Batgirl's toward the crook of his neck. The last thing she saw before her eyes completely closed was his lips, his soft, pink, welcome, enticing lips, moving gently toward her own.

 ** _!Crash!_**

 _Are you fucking kidding me…?_

Batgirl's eyes immediately snapped open at the sound to see Nightwing had already turned toward it, white slits narrowing. The horrendous sound was immediately followed by screams and desperate cries for help, along with more smashing glass and… gunshots.

The two heroes shared a knowing and slightly pained look before taking off. _We're talking about that later, Wingnut, let me assure you of that._

They careered toward the top of the stairs, only to be greeted by Gotham's elite cowering on the floor and under furniture as a central figure demanded the attention of anyone who dared to look their way. Batgirl narrowed her eyes: Red Hood.

Teeth pulled into a snarl, she vaulted herself over the railing and catapulted to the ground below, landing in a crouch. She whipped out a batarang and held it at the ready, maintaining that same fearless, terror-striking air that she'd worked so hard to perfect.

'Hey, Stop-sign! Isn't this venue a little too proper for your tastes?' Nightwing quipped above her.

The masked man turned toward them, completely unsurprised or even worried by their arrival. 'Ah, Batbitch and Prickwing; was wonderin' when you'd show your ugly-ass faces.'

Batgirl was slightly thrown by this new, yet seemingly experienced villain's disregard for famed heroes, but she held her ground and shifted her shoulders, like a lion preparing to pounce. Without moving her head, she cast her eyes up to see Nightwing now balancing on the railing like a cat, clearly relaxed as he stared down the man.

'Forgive me for being curious, it's the kid in me, but you seem to be pretty chilled for a guy who's being faced down by Gotham's finest.'

He scoffed absent-mindedly as he reloaded the gun. 'If you two dipshits are all I have to worry about, then of course I'm gonna be chilled.'

'Uh, dude… ever heard of Batman?'

A wicked, distorted laugh sounded from his throat. ''Course I heard of Batman. Boy, have I heard of Batman.'

Where in the world was Bruce anyway? Probably escorting people to safety, maintaining his cover and being Bats at the same time. Tim and Cassie had most likely joined him.

'In fact, I have a little secret that you kids might like to hear.'

Batgirl had had enough. Bolting to her feet, she hurled the batarang toward his helmet, having it narrowly miss him. He didn't even flinch.

'And why should we listen to a goddamn word you have to say, huh? We know what you've done, we've _seen_ what you've done, we have _evidence_ for what you've done. What makes you think that we should even bother hearing you monologue when we can just take you in?' she said, seething.

She swore she could've seen a smirk beneath his helmet. 'You know, I did always admire your ferocity, BG. Kinda reminds me of a tiger.' She sucked in a breath as he began moving towards her.

Looking up, she saw a defensive look come onto her partner's face. As they made eye contact, she mouthed a short _wait_ as Red Hood continued toward her.

'But eventually, tigers get older, slower, weaker, unable to even care for themselves. And they get shot. And die. And get hung up in some old man's closest like a trophy', he hissed in a whisper as he approached, until eventually he stood a few feet away from her.

 _Jesus, this guy's had proper training on how to scare the living daylights out of people_ , she thought to herself. _I sure as hell ain't showing him that though_.

'Am I supposed to feel threatened or something?' she asked plainly, a smirk plastered on her face.

'Maybe not.'

 _Um… what?_

'But you should be in a second.'

 _What is he going on- oh._

In slow motion, she watched as he pulled out his handgun and pointed it straight to her forehead. As his thumb moved toward the trigger, smirk still clear on her lips, she reached for her utility belt with lightning speed, whipped out a batarang and sent it flying directly into the barrel of the gun.

 _She shoots, she scores._

The gun went off, sending a ripple of screams through the crowded civilians, and it immediately malfunctioned, exploding in his hands. Red Hood stepped back in shock, eyes blinking rapidly as he tried to get away from the cloud of gun powder in his face.

Flicking her line of vision up to Nightwing, the two shared a curt nod, and sprang into action.

Batgirl began a swift approach toward the stumbling villain, gaining enough momentum to push off into a twisting handspring atop his shoulders, spinning him around. He stumbled once more before shaking his head, clearing it, and rounding back onto the heroine again, guns blazing. Completely forgetting about Nightwing.

The Bludhaven resident gracefully flipped down onto the hard floor, then ran up behind the unsuspecting man and tackled him in a headlock. Nightwing had the advantage of height, being slightly taller than Hood, but the well-trained killer simply sprung up and flipped himself backwards over the circus boy, reversing their roles.

Batgirl's breath caught in her throat as she swivelled around to see the villain trapping her partner, one strong arm held tight at his throat, the other with the handgun to his temple. She struggled to maintain her composure as a choking sound was squeezed out of Nightwing's throat.

'Take another step closer, and I'll blow his brains out', he said calmly. 'Assuming there are some up there.'

Taking a deep breath in, she forced herself to stand upright, hands resting easily on her hips. Making eye-contact with Nightwing, she saw him offer a small, yet genuinely cheeky smile, enough to remind her of something. He's a performer. He could get out any time he wanted; he's just choosing not to.

Not giving Hood a chance to think, she swung out her grappling hook, having it perfectly circle around with his upper thigh. A pained grunt came from his mask as it cut into the skin, and he released his grip on Nightwing's neck. The former then immediately grabbed the gun and pointed it to the ceiling, elbowed the Hood in the side, causing him to fire the round of shots until the gun was clear.

It was two against one; and no matter how good the Red Hood was, Batgirl and Nightwing were just better. Giving the rope a tug, Batgirl pulled on the grappling hook and Red Hood came tumbling toward her. The second he was at her feet, Nightwing proceeded to hogtying the villain with reinforced-titanium, rope-like tendrils, leaving him completely immobilised.

The two heroes came to stand beside one another, exchanging a fist-bump as they stared down the bounded man.

'It's alright everyone!' Nightwing addressed the crowded mass who were slowly stirring from their huddled positions. 'Bad guy detained, heroes outnumbering, you're all safe. You're free to carry on with the rest of your evening.'

A few claps sounded from various places in the room, until suddenly the entire area erupted in applause. Batgirl scoffed and rolled her eyes as her partner bowed extravagantly, along with winking at a few, swooning women. The redhead simply gave a two-finger salute, shot her grappling gun up toward the skylight above her, and let it carry her and the squirming villain up to the open night-sky above.

* * *

'Talk.'

'Make me, bitch.'

'Well, that's a bit rude, don't you think?'

Swerving around from her place on the rooftop, Batgirl turned to see Nightwing walking over toward the secluded spot where she'd decided to initiate the interrogation.

Smirking, she returned her attention back to a very disgruntled Red Hood. 'Well, now that my partner's here, I very well can. Red Hood, Nightwing; he'll be playing good cop tonight. Me? Very much bad cop.'

'' _Am I supposed to feel threatened or something_?'' he answered mockingly.

In a flash, Batgirl hurled a batarang toward his slumped body, resting against a wall. Once more, he didn't even move as it _ting!_ ed against the side of his helmet. 'Who are you? Who do you work for? What are your motives?'

He scoffed, his chest rising briefly as he took in a breath. 'Pretty sure you already know the answer to the first one. Second; self-employed, but willing to work for someone if I get paid good. And I'm doing what you do, only more effectively.'

'Well, that's a load of BS', replied Nightwing as he came to stand beside Batgirl, arms crossing just like hers.

'How so?' The masked man turned to face the towering vigilante. 'I know how you lot work, I know that for every villain you spare and lock in Arkham, Iron Heights, Belle Reve, _wherever_ , another ten escape and kill millions of innocents. I know that you all second-guess yourselves every once in a while, saying 'is it worth it?'. I know that you've all been tempted to cross that line you can't turn back from. I know how you can't sleep at night, always thinking about the final look that person had on their face before they carked it. I know you all inside out, but you don't know a damn thing about me. You never did.'

Batgirl's eyes widened in surprise and she knelt down to twist his jacket in her hand to pull him close, gritting her teeth as she did so. 'How do you know all of this?!'

'You wouldn't believe me if I told you.'

Nightwing knelt beside his furious partner, all humour gone as he whispered menacingly, 'Try us.'

'Fine then.'

'We're waiting…'

'Batman and you two.'

Batgirl glanced to her side to see the same dumbfounded expression on Nightwing's face that she imagined was on her own. After years of training and fighting beside the big old Bat, they knew how to perfectly decipher if a person was lying, just by their tone and body-language. Red Hood had just laid his cards on the table; he wasn't telling a single lie, and he obviously wasn't planning to either.

'How?' Batgirl snarled, leaning in closer to him to the point in which she could see her furious expression perfectly reflecting off of his facemask.

'Be a little more _whelmed_ and I might tell you', he said, a smirk clinging on his words.

Batgirl took in a sharp breath and turned to Nightwing, whose mouth hung open in disbelief at his words, his eyes looking like they were about to pop out of his head and through the mask at any second.

Batgirl watched as his shoulders tensed and moved out of the way as he grabbed the Hood by his jacket and held him above the ground, sending him the most almighty Bat-glare.

' _Who are you_?' he spat, fist tightening around the brown cloth with every word.

Red Hood simply chuckled, though it came out more like a rasp thanks to the headgear. 'I don't want to ruin the surprise. But by all means, you fucktards are welcome to find out on your own accord. I know how much you detectives _love_ solving a mystery. Especially one with a shocking twist.'

Batgirl felt her heart pounding in her chest and rising in her throat as Nightwing dropped him, his hands shaking as he reached for the mask. Her stomach began to squirm in anxiety as she watched her partner's unsteady hands feel around the Hood's headgear, and a cold shiver past through her body at the sound of a click, which was followed by a soft _hiiissss…_

She raised a tentative hand to her mouth and held it over her lips as they quivered, watching on as the mask slowly pushed itself further away from his face.

There was a moment where nothing happened, where neither Batgirl nor Nightwing could hear anything but the sound of their own accelerated heartbeats.

'Well, Nightwing, are you gonna chicken out now, or you got a tiny ounce of courage left somewhere?' the man's voice taunted, and for the first time, undistorted. It sounded hauntingly familiar.

Batgirl's brain racked through all the memories she attained over the last few years as Nightwing's hands grasped the helmet, until she arrived at a handful of them. She forgot how to breathe.

Her wide, fearful eyes took in the image of Nightwing removing the mask, and she'd become so focused on what was before her, she didn't even hear Nightwing's gasp, the clank of the headgear hitting the ground, or his jagged breathing.

'Hey Dick. Hey Babs. Remember me?'

 _Jason?!_

* * *

 **DUN DUN DUN! they knoowwwwwwwww! ooo, i had chills writing that last part**

 **Yes, it was incredibly Bat-central, but idc, i love them all. and dont worry, theres plenty more bat related drama to come *wink***

 **OMG THAT WAS SO MUCH FUN TO WRITE AHHHHHHHHH**

 **i don't really have much more to say, other than...**

 **QUESTION OF THE CHAPTER: Favourite DC Graphic Novel?**

 **Eg. Killing Joke, Flashpoint Paradox, For The Man Who Has Everything, etc...**

* * *

 **Remember to Review, Favourite and Follow 3**

 **Much love,**

 **~SpitfireWestAllen15**


	12. Chapter 10: Six Feet Under (Part 2)

**AUTHOR NOTE: Hey guys! ... What do you mean I posted twice in one week?**

 **Well, yes, I was so anxious to finish chapter 10 that I literally couldn't wait, so if my writing is sloppy and all over the shop, please forgive me! (i didnt even proof read so...) You'll see why I wanted to post this asap**

 **So, we are the half-way point in the story! omg, so fast... *wink***

 **I don't want to spend too much time writing prior to your reading of this next chapter, so I'll just shut up :)**

 **Without further ado, ENJOY CHAPTER 10 (part 2)**

* * *

 **CHAPTER 10: Six Feet Under (Part 2)**

 **JUMP CITY**

 **September 14, 05:19 PDT**

The sun hadn't even peaked out from behind the dark curtain of night-sky as Raven sat on the sand of the beach. Her body begged for sleep, even for a light meditation session, but she didn't care. The angst was too real, and sleep was overrated.

Her eyes followed as the navy waves lapped at the island shore, each one bringing a new miscellaneous item, and taking another two.

Even though she hadn't shown it much, she'd really appreciated the warmth and hospitality that both the League and Team had shown her. Knowing that someone cared made everything so much better. But all the noise, the chaos, the shrill laughter and _ugh_ video games had become a little too much, and she'd needed a break.

So naturally, she'd decided to not even announce her early departure from the Watchtower, but instead teleported herself to a secluded, peaceful environment where she could just… be.

Taking in a deep breath, she stared out at the harbour. A few vessels were parked, some leaving and some just arriving. Some civilians had already begun their commute as they walked or drove their way through the city. They all had problems of their own, she realised, but they all had rather normal lives.

 _It's not like any of them are the lovechild of the real Satan and a gullible woman_ , she thought with a sigh.

Suddenly, the wind picked up, sending a chill all the way through her bones. Regrettably, her teeth began to chatter, and goose bumps trailed down her limbs. Looking down at her arms, the young half-demon realised she hadn't brought anything with her except her nightgown, which offered zero to no protection against the harsh beating of the wind.

She knew she should probably just leave and head back to the safety of her warm bed, but this was the first she'd felt semi at-peace in weeks, and she was going to bloody enjoy. Even if it meant contracting hypothermia in the process.

Hearing the small flapping of wings above, she looked up to see a small flock of seagulls soaring above.

 _Don't even think about it_.

A groan escaped her as they began their descent onto the island, landing a few feet away from her. The loud squawking of the pests had become the most obnoxious sound she'd heard within a few seconds, and she'd just been about to create a fox to scare them away when she heard the glorious cry of another bird above.

Looking up once more, she just made out the silhouette of an eagle gliding down toward the ground. It screeched once, warning the seagulls as it sped down toward the island. The birds looked up at the sound, startled, and immediately proceeded to more squawking as they flew away. This slowed the eagle, yet it continued its descent down toward the beach beside the teenage girl. There was something odd about it.

Unfortunately, it had re-angled itself so its silhouette melted into the background of the dark sky. Even as it spread its wings to slow down its descent as it landed, she could still hardly make out any characteristics.

It wasn't until the bird began to sprout a nose, lose feathers and grow longer legs that she realised it wasn't even a bird in the first place.

'Oh, it's you', was all the young girl grumbled as she focused back on where the sun would emerge, which was now sporting a small glow from behind the waves.

'Wow; such a hostile attitude. What a surprise from someone as _warm and bubbly_ as you, Raven', Beast Boy replied with just as much enthusiasm as he plonked himself down beside the pale teen.

They just sat and stared for a few moments, silence filling the void between them, until Raven turned to him. 'Can I help you with something, or have you interrupted my rare moment of peace for your own pleasure?'

'As much pleasure as it gives me ticking you off', he said, earning another grumble from the girl, 'I'm actually here on my own accord.'

She scoffed, half at his words and half at the disbelief that they'd just shared a conversation without immediately going at each other's throat. 'Oh really?'

'Yeah', he said simply, still staring at the sun. 'When I feel like it, I kinda just fly, swim or run around for a bit until I find a spot where I can just chill, just be me and my own thoughts.'

'I never pictured you as the angsty type, Garfield.'

'There's a lot about me you don't know.'

With this, he cast his eyes down, putting his head between his legs, letting his arms dangle over the gangly limbs. The sight of the usually perky, boisterous boy being so down was unsettling, and no matter how much Raven resented the green teen, it left her skin crawling. She anxiously brought her knees up to her chest and hugged them with all her might.

Silence once again enveloped the two heroes, this one filled with discomfort and a bursting desire to speak, yet neither quite knew what to say, so they sat. Glancing across, careful not to be noticed, she had to stop herself from gasping at the sight of unbearable hopelessness in his eyes, the feeling of drowning and being forever lost in the dull, grassy orbs. She'd only seen such despair in another set of eyes in her lifetime: her own.

Gulping, suddenly nervous, she muttered out, 'Would you like to talk about it?'

'I'm pretty sure you already know', he muttered back. 'Thought your powers let you see into people's pasts or something crazy like that.'

'It does', she said softly, daring to edge closer. 'Doesn't mean I choose to use them though. Especially when I can tell people don't want their secrets known.'

His head bolted up in shock and he looked at her for the first time. For some weird reason, she got a small pain in her chest as she saw unshed tears sparkling in his eyes. 'Y-you mean… you haven't like, looked into my past or whatever?'

Raven was shocked. She knew there was a certain amount of loathing that went on between them, but she didn't think that the half-Martian had gone as far to think that she'd go out of her way to pry into his private life. Yes, she was blunt, yes, she was reserved, yes, she wasn't one for jokes and games, but she certainly wasn't that cold…

'Of course not!' she replied indignantly, but then calmed down as the freshly-hurt boy looked away. 'Garfield, no matter how much we seemingly resent each other, I will never go against a Teammate's back like that. Nor any decent person's for that matter.'

He slowly nodded until his eyes lit up, and a small smirk came onto his face. 'You just said something nice about me.'

'No I didn't.'

'Yeah, you did. You called me a 'decent person'.'

A satisfied grin appeared on his green complexion, to which Raven pointed an accusatory finger at his chest. 'Yeah, and you dare repeat it to anyone, I'll send you into the vacuum of space.'

'Very funny, Raven', he chuckled.

'I'm not kidding.'

'I know.'

The mood had lifted, and a comfortable silence settled around them. Just as Raven was about to get up and leave the boy 'to his thoughts', he said a small, 'okay.'

She turned to face him. 'What?'

Making eye-contact with her, he took in a breath and said, 'Okay, I'll tell you about what happened.'

Raven suddenly felt exposed, like _she_ was the one about to confess something dark and horrible. 'You know you don't have to, right?'

'No, but I want to.' And so he began.

He started off by telling her about his pre-Beast Boy life, where it'd just been him, his mother, and their hundreds of African animals. He said he didn't know much about his father, and it had never really mattered to him. He chose not to dwell too much on his life before meeting the Team, but the second he mentioned that fateful day, meeting the original versions of Robin and Kid Flash, Superboy and Miss Martian, his eyes lit up, and his whole demeanour changed. He talked about how amazing it'd been to wake up after being thrown by the blast of the exploding barn, and to find out that Miss Martian, M'gann, had given him a blood transfusion. A giggle escaped him as he remembered dubbing the green girl his 'blood sister'.

The second he'd finished talking about that, however, he tore his gaze away from Raven. He talked about the protests against Queen Bee's tyrannical reign that his mother had taken part in. Pride shook in his voice as he described how fiercely she'd done so. One day, however, he'd finished his chores around the property and arrived home to realise his mother was nowhere in sight. He'd walked inside the kitchen and found a note telling him she'd gone for a drive, and that she'd be back by 2. It was 5 by then.

He'd walked all over their land calling her name until he decided to venture further into the jungle part of the savannah. Young, little 8-year-old Garfield Logan had not been prepared for what awaited him.

Raven's eyes widened as his voice began to shake again, this time sounding choked as he described seeing his mother's overturned car at the base of the waterfall, broken beyond repair. It was in that moment he broke down.

Six years on, and the pain of losing his mother was still clearly fresh in the 15-year-old's heart. Uncertain of how he'd react, Raven carefully edged closer until she was right beside him, and rested a comforting hand on his back. She was then suddenly pulled into the most almighty hug by the broken boy, which she swiftly returned, rubbing her hands soothingly up and down his back, cooing to him. She'd had a mother once, too.

After a few minutes of extreme closeness and desperate holds, they slowly peeled apart, yet didn't move away from one another.

Sniffing, Beast Boy looked toward Raven and smiled. 'Thanks for that.'

'It's fine', she brushed off. 'You look like you needed it. Even if it came from me.'

He scoffed half-heartedly. 'Yeah, well, it really helped so, you know…'

'Yeah', she breathed out. She couldn't help it. She smiled.

Taking in a sudden deep breath, composure regained, Beast Boy lifted himself to his feet. 'Well, as much fun as this was, we'd better get back to the Watchtower. The others will want to know where we are.'

Blinking, she levitated herself up to stand beside the slightly hunched boy. 'Yeah, you're right', she said as she turned her attention to the sunrise, noticing that it had almost completely revealed itself by now.

He pointed at her, humour shining back in his eyes once more. 'Don't think I'm forgetting about your little comforting act anytime soon, though.'

'Like you ever could', she scoffed with a roll of her eyes.

A jolt passed through her, and she looked down to see he had touched her arm. 'Seriously, though; thanks, Raven.'

Her heartbeat increased as he looked at her sincerely, and then just as he turned around, ready to transform into a bird once more, she spoke up.

'Rachel.'

She'd whispered it so softly, she didn't even know if he'd heard.

He had.

He turned back to her. 'What?'

Looking up, letting her lavender eyes meet his green, she repeated, 'My name's Rachel.'

His eyes widened in shock, his entire body slackening as he took in what she said. A smile, not a little one, but rather a huge grin, played on his lips. 'Noted, and _aw_ , you _do_ like me!'

'I do not.'

'You _so_ do!'

As the sun painted the sky in a rainbow of colours, the two young, bickering heroes travelled back home, though not in the same way they'd come.

 **DAKOTA CITY**

 **September 14, 09:15 CTZ**

 _Jab-jab, punch, jab-jab, punch, rib, rib, uppercut… Aaaaand, roundhouse kick!_

Virgil panted as he felt another bead of sweat drip down his face, making his dark skin shine. He maintained focus on the punching bag. Lunging forward, he continued onto another repetition.

 _Cross, slide, hard rib, swing kick from the left, jab-jab, punch, jab-jab, punch…_

He kept pushing, and even though his muscles screamed at him to take a break, he wouldn't listen. Every time he considered giving it a rest, his mind replayed the scene from last night's patrol with Blue Beetle. The commotion they'd come across, the look on the little girl's face as her parents fought, the burning sensation rising in his throat as he struggled to reach them in time, struggled to stop the mother from pulling the gun on the unsuspecting father.

 ** _!Bang!_**

The horror in the girl's gut-wrenching scream as her father's limp body crumpled to the floor, followed by the wheezing of the distraught mother. The second terrified scream as a second shot was fired, this time into the mother's own head. The wide, shocked eyes of the girl who knelt in her parents' blood. The tiny whimpering that followed, soon turning into harsh, mournful wailing.

 _You were too slow._

 _You couldn't stop them._

 _You couldn't save that little girl's childhood._

 _You failed._

Each new thought was processed into his brain as he thrashed the very-much beaten bag. He pounded his bare fists against it, leaving droplets of blood on its synthetic surface.

Pulling his fists into him, he gazed upon his knuckles, looking at the red white splotches that coloured them. Blood. It flashed again in his mind.

Recoiling he'd just been about to throw another one when he heard footsteps coming. Sighing, he wiped his hands and proceeded to pressing the garage button. The old, creaky door slid up to reveal a tracksuit-wearing, sweatshirt donning Hispanic before him. Jaime.

'Hey _hermano_ , just thought I'd come by, see how you were doing today?'

Virgil turned back to the bag, continuing to punch it. 'I'm fine.'

He heard the scuffle of shoes which was followed by the familiar voice. 'Well, you're obviously not, considering you're beating the crap out of a split bag.'

Virgil furrowed his eyebrows and turned the bag, only to groan to see the small crack that had formed in the seam, letting sand pass through it slowly.

'You wanna talk about it?' he heard his friend say, uncertainty making his voice waver.

He punched the bag once more, pushing a large pocket of sand out of it and onto the floor. 'Do I _look_ like I want to talk about it?'

A hand touched his shoulder, and he swung around, fists at the ready. Jaime simply cocked an eyebrow at him, and watched as the 16-year-old visibly relaxed. 'I'm sorry, it's just-'

'It just feels like everything you've ever done right in your life doesn't count anymore? Dude, trust me, _I know_. Last night was the first time you felt solely responsible for not saving someone. Been there, it sucks. Right now, I know the last thing you want to do is to talk about how you're feeling, but that's exactly what you should do', he said earnestly.

Virgil scoffed. 'Okay, Dr Reyes, when'd you get so smart?'

The 17-year-old smirked. 'After so many counselling sessions with Canary, you pick up a few psychology tips and tricks.'

A half-hearted chuckle escaped him. 'Okay, let's talk then.'

* * *

'Okay, I got a caramel Frappuccino for the cutie on the left, and an ice coffee for the cutie on the right! Enjoy, and lemme know if y'all need anything else, m'kay?'

Jaime smiled charmingly at the young waitress as he sipped on his cold beverage. 'Thanks for that.'

'Thanks, Riley', Virgil joined in, staring at his own drink.

The mid-20's woman then scooted off to some other awaiting customer, leaving the two teens to their thoughts. An awkward silence settled between them, and they just sat for a few moments, downing their respective drinks.

Jaime felt his skin crawling with the need to say something, _anything_. He'd never been great at starting conversation, even with his close friends.

 _Just when I need Bart, that crazed speedster decides to hang around at the Watchtower instead…_

'It's all my fault.'

Jaime's head shot up to see his dark friend stirring his drink uncomfortably. His raven dreadlocks fell over chocolate-brown eyes, which were downcast, and his full lips were pulled into a frown. Something pierced his heart, and Jaime took pity on the younger boy.

'No it wasn't', he replied softly, but sternly, to prove his point. 'You did everything in your power, and thanks to your fast thinking and awesome persuasion skills, that young girl gets to grow up extremely privileged', he said, thinking back to when Static had convinced one of the detectives to first arrive on the scene to take in the girl.

'Yeah, but it'll be without her parents. No kid should have to grow up without the people who are the reason they're alive in the first place.'

'Virg, this stuff happens, and it happens quite a bit. There are just some people that even we can't save, and we have to learn to accept it. It's hard as hell, I know, but the sooner you realise that, the better off you'll be.'

'But we're superheroes, for crying out loud!' he hissed under his breath. 'We're _supposed_ to be able to save everyone. It's kinda in the job description…'

'I know, _hermano_ , it's just something we have to live with. You have to learn to focus on what you do right, because _that's_ what motivates you to become even better. So instead of thinking about the parents' deaths, think about the life this girl will live now, and the one she could've ended up living if you hadn't stepped in. If it weren't for you, she probably would've ended up in some stinkin' orphanage or he foster-care system, but thanks to you, she'll have life surrounded by caring people who teach her all the important values in life.'

'While you think you didn't save anyone last night, you actually, really did. You saved that little girl, Virgil, and you're a hero because of it.'

He looked up, smiling sheepishly at his friend's words, a warm, fuzzy feeling growing in his chest. 'Thanks bro…'

'No problem', he sent a lop-sided grin back at him, before lifting his glass up toward Virgil's mug. 'After last night, I feel the need to toast to something.'

'To what?'

'Anything, really', he chuckled.

Virgil thought for a moment, before raising his drink to Jaime's. 'To life, then.'

'To life.'

 _!Clink!_

 **THE WATCHTOWER**

 **September 14, 10:39 EDT**

'Kara, stop glaring before you heat-vision him.'

The blonde teen shot her furious gaze up to Kaldur, who was giving her a disapproving look. She poked her tongue out fearlessly at her leader before turning back to her initial victim.

The Trinity along with Hal Jordan, Miss Martian, Tigress, Aqualad and Guardian stood in front of Brainiac 5, and had begun investigating into who he was. Kara hadn't been invited to interrogate the futuristic alien, but that hadn't restricted her from seething on the sideline.

 _Get rekt get rekt get rekt,_ was what she'd begun chanting in her head as she tried exceptionally hard not to blow a fuse.

She watched as M'gann looked her way, and shot her half-heart glare. _'How about instead of that, you say something more positive like 'He's with us, he's with us, he's with us'?'_

She simply stuck her tongue out again.

M'gann rolled her eyes, and as she was turning back though, _'Okay, just keep it down a bit though, alright? You think really loudly.'_

Flicking her attention back to the small gathering, her eyebrows knitted as she watched Superman shifting uncomfortably as Wonder Woman calmly talked with the green alien. It didn't take a 12th-level intellect to know that he was wary of Brainiac 5's presence. He sure as hell wasn't the only one.

'So, you say your name is Querl?' Wonder Woman asked, subconsciously feeling the golden rope on her waist.

He nodded in response. 'Yes, Querl Dox. As I told you, I am officially known as Brainiac 5, but my companions from what you perceive as your future have given me this informal name with my consent.'

A sudden rush of wind interrupted all conversation as Bart sped in, stealing Hal's doughnut, much to his annoyance. 'Yeah, Q's totally crash; he was the one who helped design and build the time machine that brought me here', he said between mouthfuls.

Hal hadn't even bothered listening, just muttered unrepeatable words under his breath. 'Remind me again why I decided to take on the new Lantern rookie?'

Tigress looked to the pilot in surprise. 'Another one? Please tell me they're more approachable than Gardner…'

'Much', he responded, pride clear in his voice. 'Kid's a natural at the hero gig. Just hoping he doesn't turn into _that_ ', he said, pointing to Bart, who'd just come back from the kitchen with more Chicken Whizees than he could hold.

Resting his hands on his waist, puffing out his chest, he proudly announced, 'I'm actually planning on introducing him to everyone once he's a bit further through his training. John's out with him today; pretty sure he's got the poor kid doing military exercises.'

Superman chuckled. 'I wouldn't be surprised.'

Batman shot the space cop a look that could've scared Bane, clearly annoyed they'd gotten off topic. 'Let's get back to the issue right in front of us, girly gossip can be saved for later.'

For once, Kara agreed with the Dark Knight.

'Thank you, Batman', Wonder Woman nodded respectfully before turning back to Brainiac 5. 'So, would you please care to elaborate of your reasons for travelling back in time?'

'Of course', he replied. 'As Bart just stated, I am from the future, though not from the near one that Bart is from. Whilst he is from 38 years into the future, I am from 937 years into the future. By then, the Earth has slowly begun to replenish itself, and reconstruction is underway. But most of the population has been exterminated, many animal species are extinct, and only three species of plant remain. We have been researching ways to recreate the lost plants, and genetically modified animals being bred together are slowly allowing the rebirth of many, but there is no way to bring back the lost human and Earthling lives.'

Kara started, before squinting her eyes to affirm her suspicions. That was pain on his face… he was grieving… he was _feeling_.

The pain on his face appeared to be reflected equally on each of the Leaguers and Team members' faces, Miss Martian even having to blink away tears.

'What happened?' Bart asked in a shocked whisper. Apparently he hadn't even heard the alien's terrible tale.

He looked up and brought up a series of photographs that began to roll through a slideshow. 'That was why I came back in time, Bart. None of us really knew, not even a 12th-level intellect. When I arrived in 2055, and I saw the devastation had been wrought by the Reach and Beetles, that became my hypothesis to the issue. Then you left. Whilst Nathaniel, formally known as Neutron, was no longer incapacitated, nor had he ever been, the same amount of devastation remained. So, I had to create a new hypothesis.'

'Which is…?' Batman asked, his chilling voice wavering slightly.

'To eliminate the terrible future that awaits, the obstacle that stands in the way must be removed. Such obstacle goes by the name of Darkseid.'

In that instance, an image of a grey, rock-hard thick figure appeared on the hologram, glowing-red, jagged lines shooting out of his eyes. Kara felt her heartbeat increase, and felt she was about to be sick.

 _No._

 _No._

 _No._

 _No. no. NO!_

She collapsed to the ground, knees buckling below her. Her eyes widened in horror as she looked at the tyrant.

 _No, no, no!_

 _No…_

Superman, Bart and Miss Martian sped to her side, each with worried looks on their faces.

'Kara, what is it?' her cousin asked softy as he helped her to her shaky feet.

Her throat closed, her heart thumped, and the world spun. _Not him._

'D-darkseid… there's n-no hope…' was all she could manage out.

She could somewhat feel a masculine hand hold her chin, directing it up to big, blue eyes. 'There's _always_ hope, Kara.'

She shook her head repetitively. 'No, you don't understand. Before Krypton was destroyed, we had large archives containing knowledge of universal issues, both past and present. Darkseid's the ruler of the planet Apokolips, a world full of hatred, anger and death, the opposite to their sister planet, New Genesis, the thriving world of love, tranquillity and life.'

'Darkseid and his predecessor, his father, Stepphenwolf, are known for their acts of cruelty and world domination are known throughout the galaxies, and are gravely feared by anyone and everyone who know their names. They conquer and defeat worlds; there isn't one they haven't beaten.'

'Incorrect.'

They all turned their attention to Wonder Woman, who stood defiant and serious among her colleagues. 'That information is incorrect.'

Kara narrowed her eyes fiercely at the Amazon goddess. 'Oh yeah? Where's your proof?'

'Within my own memories', she replied simply. 'Darkseid and his army of _parademons_ , I believe they were called, came to Earth and tried to tame her four and a half millennia ago. Amazons, Atlanteans and Man's World fought as one to protect her, casting aside all differences. I was still but a child, but I will forever remember the pride and honour I felt as they were driven away. It was the war of a thousand lifetimes. We defeated him once, and if he dares to come back, we shall do it again.'

Batman moved forward to rest a hand on the proud warrior's shoulder. 'It's terrific and all to see you getting nostalgic, princess, but we need to remain on task.'

'I do not wish to come across as blunt, but neither of these theories are correct.'

 _Oh right, he's still here_ , Kara thought as she looked sideways at the other blonde alien.

'Whilst there is, as Kal-El put it, _hope_ , and hope will always remain, the chance of Darkseid and his Apokoliptan army succeeding rests at 94.97%. It can be done, but after by my calculations, the chances of winning are extremely low.'

'Yo, Q, that's still a 5.03% chance of kicking their cans', Bart mumbled out while eating a tub of Double Choc ice-cream.

'But how many lives will be lost along the way?' Tigress said wearily; this was just the icing on top of the cake of disappointments, burdens and tragedies in her life. 'Just because there's a slim chance that we _might_ just take down this Darkseid guy, doesn't mean that everyone will make it out alive. For all we know, we could lose half the human population along the way…'

Miss Martian came to rest a hand on her friend's shoulder comfortingly, in hope to somehow lift some of the immense weight off her shoulders. 'While there's truth to what Artemis says, I think we all need to just take a moment, _breath_ and think about this all rationally. I mean, we just found out about Darkseid not five minutes ago and we're already talking like we're completely and utterly doomed, which I can assure you, we're not. We're superheroes; we adapt, we thrive and we survive. This information doesn't differ from that. For now, I suggest we carry on with our normal lives, dedicating a specified time each and every day to resolving this arising issue, taking it step by step.'

This warranted a concessional nod from the group, even from Batman. Kara smiled as Wonder Woman rested a hand on the young Martian's shoulder, smiling proudly at her.

'You have wisdom beyond your years, M'gann, and I can see you're growing into a strong, resourceful, independent young woman. May Hera always be with you', Diana remarked, sisterly love shining in her words.

M'gann looked up at the demi-goddess in awe, stuttering out, 'T-thank you, Diana. That means a lot coming from you.'

Taking in a deep breath, Kara left her cousin's side to fly closer to the centre of the little gathering. She glanced around her fellow heroes, taking in the expressions of each of their faces. While there was uncertainty written clearly on them, and she could hear the accelerated heartbeats, defiance and the need to serve justice was prominent on every single cell of their bodies, even Brainiac 5's organic ones. She knew that they'd all fight when the time came; they'd fight until they were unable to hold themselves up. They'd support each other throughout the rough times ahead, and none of them, not a single one, would give up until their dying day. Maybe even after that.

 **NORTH MAGNETIC POLE**

 **September 15, 00:01 UTC**

Everything was peaceful, nothing occurring except the steady downfall of snow onto the icy ground. The sky was dull, just a solid grey background against the whiteness of the little specks. Nothing was out of the ordinary, just as it had been for quite some time.

Suddenly, a bright, blinding blue light ripped open the sky, and the wind picked up insurmountably. All the freshly fallen snow was carried into the swirling, blue, glowing hurricane as it whirled in the middle of nowhere. Lightning split the dull grey above it, accompanied by the crack and boom of horrendous thunder. The extremities kept increasing, getting harder, faster, stronger, until it suddenly stopped, dying as quickly as it had been born.

 ** _Thud_**

'Uh, ow?'

All that remained was a battered, bruised body, laying motionless in the snow. They sat up, rubbing their crown as they thought for a moment, before realisation hit and they bolted to their feet.

Memories started flowing back in, crashing into their psyche, sending the emotional wave that had already beat against their shore once more, and their chest burned in response.

They looked around, eyes darting every which way, taking in all too familiar surroundings. Everything was coming back now.

Shaky hands reached up to run fingers through the messy mop of hair atop their head as they comprehended what had gone down.

End of the world.

Not-so-romantic trip to Paris.

Painful realisation of failure.

Last, defiant stand to protect everything they'd fought so hard to preserve.

Blindingly-painful jolts coursing through their body.

Losing themselves to the wind as a desperate voice cried their name.

Death.

It had all seemed so recent, yet they knew better than to believe that. It very well could've been a few hours, maybe even minutes since they'd left, but it could also be a thousand years into the future as well. The latter seemed highly unlikely, however, as they were still standing on solid ice.

Letting out a foggy breath, they walked around for a bit, considering what the most rational, reasonable thing to do would be. When nothing immediately sprang to mind, they thought they might've been hungry. What a surprise.

Looking to a gloved hand, they opened a small compartment, only to discover it was completely bare.

'Awesome; cupboards are bare', they muttered to themselves.

They rolled their forest-green eyes and looked around again. As they walked, the decided to try contacting, well… anyone who'd pick up. Pressing the com-link, they were even more disappointed to hear the cringe-worthy sound of static. Twas the cherry on top.

They were running out of ideas. They had little food left, no way of outside communication, and they didn't even know where, or when they were. Their stomach grumbled, their heart broke at the thought of family and friends, and the anxiety and curiosity of _wanting to know_ overwhelmed them, and so they resolved to doing the thing they did best.

They ran.

* * *

 **GUESS WHO'S BACK BACK BACK, BACK AGAIN -GAIN -GAIN.**

...

 **WALLYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY**

 **AHHHH YAY! Guys, I have wanted to do that since the bloody prologue, and now (omg cant even deal right now), he's back!**

 **Hope that all made you happy and fangirl (or boy!) like crazy**

 **You may have also picked up on another little easter egg that i slotted in up there. Lemme know if you guys know what I'm talking about. *smirk***

* * *

 **QUESTION OF THE CHAPTER: Any canon/non-canon ships you guys wanna see happen in this? Or the introduction/reintroduction of other characters?**

 **Eg. DonnaxJason, KaraXBrainy, Cyborg, etc?**

* * *

 **Remember to Review, Favourite and Follow**

 **Much love,**

 **~SpitfireWestAllen15 xx**


	13. Chapter 11: Reunion

**AUTHOR NOTE: DROP EVERYTHING AND BEFORE YOU EVEN START READING THIS CHAPTER, READ THE SHIT OUT OF DC REBIRTH #1. YOU WILL CRY ( I CERTAINLY DID, I STILL AM)**

 **It's actually crazy how much of a coincidence it is with what happens in rebirth to what's currently happening in this fic, but I gotta tell ya, Rebirth got right everything New 52 got wrong, and im so bloody happy omg I need a moment.**

 **1\. BLUE WING IS BACK BITCHES! 2. TIM AND STEPH ARE A THING (I lowkey ship them. Wonderbird ftw, though) 3. BIRDS OF PREY! 4. ACTUAL GOOD SUPERMAN 5. HELLA AWESOME WONDEY SUIT :D**

 **AND THE BEST FUCKING THING HAPPENS IN REBIRTH #1 SO READ IT IF YOU HAVENT ALREADY.**

 **... my body wasn't prepared, guys. Rebirth has hit me right in the feels...**

 **I know I've been gone probably longer than I should've. Lost of stuff going on in my life right now, so trying to manage that and make you guys happy and the same time. Please deal with me :)**

 **HOLY GUACAMOLE THO SUICIDE SQUAD IS OUT IN 2 AND A HALF WEEKS OMG IM DEAD (so excited!)**

 **And super pumped for Wonder Woman trailer next week, been waiting since forever :D**

 **And YJ is hopeful again! Yay! (not getting hopes up tho) but you guys, remember: #KeepBingingYJ**

* * *

 **CHAPTER 11: Reunion**

 **MINNESOTA**

 **September 15, 06:18**

Wally had lost track of how long he'd been running, just kept focusing on placing one foot after the other, ignoring the searing pain in his legs, the burning sensation in his throat and lungs. He replayed everything that had happened in his mind once more.

Running with Bart and Barry to stop the chrysalis crisis, being too damn slow to keep up with them, feeling himself become lighter and lighter as he charged on until he dissolved into nothingness. Then awakening in the _Speed Force_ of all things, being told he was in a place between life and death, where he could be brought back if he was 'summoned'?

It was all a blur, and honestly, Wally didn't want to give any of it another thought. All he wanted to think about was seeing his parents, Uncle Barry and Iris, Bart, the Team, Dick and Artemis. Oh, God, Artemis. Getting to her was his priority, and her face wanted to be the first one he recognised. While he only felt it'd been a few hours at most since he'd seen her, his heart felt like it'd been a lifetime. He just hoped that wasn't the case.

Finally, after running for hours on end through the same harsh, cold environment, he spotted buildings. His heart swelled at the thought of getting closer to home.

He ran into the streets of the city, which he soon identified as Minneapolis. The morning sun had just begun to rise as he navigated through the city, trying to find some sign of his previous life and what he'd left behind.

 _If I'm going to do some investigating, I really shouldn't be in a bright yellow and red spandex and Kevlar suit_ , he thought as he reached for another compartment on his other glove, pulling out a few 5 dollar bills he somehow happened to have spare. Spotting a quaint, little outlet, he ducked in and grabbed the first pair of clothes he saw that were relatively close to his size. Zooming out again, he left the payment on the countertop, adding a tip to the sum for the shocked clerk.

* * *

 _Oh my God, I feel like my skin can actually breathe out of that damned suit._

Now at a calm, steady walk, Wally took in the sights as he moved. Everything seemed incredibly similar, like he'd only just left. How he hoped and prayed that that was the truth…

He was on the outskirts of the city, so everything was either very cute and small, or gritty and brusque. He'd counted at least four homeless people since he'd began his walk. Antiquities stores, corner shops, a drug dealer here and there, the red-haired 21-year-old didn't know whether to laugh or cry at the absurdity of it all. Wait a second.

He stopped short as the thought jumped into his mind. _Am I still 21? When I'd arrived back from the Speedforce, had my DNA aged rapidly to get catch up with whatever time I've arrived back in? Or had it remained as though I'd just left…_

Looking himself over, casually examining his hands, arms and his face in the murky reflection of a puddle, he got a warm surprise. Whilst a few freckles had disappeared as they had been over the years, and his hair was slightly longer, he only looked like a few years had gained on him.

 _Shit_ he thought as realisation sunk in. He might've been gone for a whole year… maybe even more. He'd known that much, but this new revelation just let it sink in more, making him have to face the facts.

His head shot up as yet another thought popped. _Newspaper. If I can find a newspaper stand, I can find out the date…_

He took off at a very human sprint, running throughout the dirty streets as he began his search. A TV store, a newspaper stand, a newsagent, he didn't care. He just had to know.

After running for what felt like hours, he spotted one. A little hotdog stand, where it appeared you bought food and received a complementary newspaper with it. A mixture of anxiety and hope swirled in the pit of his stomach as he marched toward his destination. Beads of sweat appeared on his brow, stuffing his hands nervously into his pockets as he approached the burly, little man behind the cart.

Wally caught the stout man's eyes, and returned the beaming grin that was being shot at him with a small smile.

'Hey there, sonny', he greeted as he reached for a bun. 'What can I getcha today?'

'What's got the most calories on the menu?' he answered briskly, but not without politeness.

The man let out a hearty laugh as he placed down the little bun he previously had to replace it with one double its size. 'Usually, when kids like you come for food, they asking for the _least_ 'mount of calories.'

Wally looked away and rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly. 'Yeah… haven't had a meal in a while so, bit on the hungry side, ya know?'

Sympathy flashed across his eyes as he placed the large sausage into the folds of the breads. 'Boy, do I… Ya want mustard or ketchup with that?'

'Onions would be awesome, if you've got them.'

'Sure do!'

With that, he handed Wally the Jumbo-sized hotdog, along with another smile.

'Thank you so much', Wally said as he took it from his hands, before digging into his pocket again. 'How much was that again?'

'Usually charge $7.79 for 'em, but you the nicest and politest kid that's come 'ere for weeks, so it's a discount to $4.00.'

'No I can't accept that-'

There was a twinkle in his eyes as he reached down to grab something, and Wally's stomach tightened at the sight of the newspaper he'd so anxiously awaited. 'Please; it'll make an ol' man like me feel better 'bout life to know that a decent kid got a decent meal. Gotta keep the ones like you healthy an' strong to give an example to the hool'gans who run 'round 'ere. Now hurry an' eat your food before I decide to take an early break an' eat it for you. Oh', he said as he handed over the sheets of paper in his hands, 'and you seem like the type o' kid to read the paper, so this is on the house.'

'T-thank you', Wally breathed out as he heartrate increased and he took the paper from his hands.

 _Kay… old man selling hotdogs with a Santa Claus air to him… pretty normal… newspaper still around, but in low numbers… also pretty normal…_ he thought to himself as he took a Wally-sized bite out of the hotdog. As the meaty substance his tongue, he realised just how hungry he was, and soon consumed the entire meal within 30 seconds as he refocused back to the paper in front of him.

His eyes took a while to get there, but eventually, they landed on the date, and he read aloud, just to check that what he was reading was actually the case.

'15th of September… 2017…' he muttered as his eyes darted over the page.

A whole year. He'd been gone for a whole year and then some. He raked shaky fingers through his fiery hair. Thoughts and questions started racing into his head.

The Team, the League, the entire world thought he was dead. That was obvious having been gone without a trace for so long. That meant that this whole time, Barry had thought he was gone, Mom and Dad, Dick had to go through losing yet another person he loved, and Artemis…

'Artemis', he breathed out as he dropped the paper and took off, his new-found energy spurring him on.

His speed increased once he was out of the town, and as he ran, he pulled a Barry and changed into his uniform, all while on the move. He pumped his arms, his teeth clenched, eyes narrowed, and legs moving like there was no tomorrow. In his mind, without Artemis, there wasn't one.

 _What if she's moved on?_ he suddenly thought, feeling as though a weight had been dropped on his shoulders. Or course, had he actually died, that's what he would've wanted more than anything; for her to be able to live her life, being able to love again.

 _But I'm not dead! Arty… please… please have waited for me... I can't do this without you…_

Those thoughts only made him run faster, and as he ran faster and faster, wind tearing at his cheeks as he sprinted, he heard a resounding _boom!_ from behind him. Glancing to where he'd just come from, realisation hit him.

That was a sonic boom. _I just hit Mach 5._ He was running at the speed of sound. _I've never run that fast before._

He was faster.

Curiosity nipping him – or maybe the harsh win beating against him; he didn't know which – he pushed even harder, to the point where he wasn't even sure he feet were hitting the ground.

 _I'm coming everyone. I'm coming home…_

 **KEYSTONE CITY**

 **September 15, 09:37 EDT**

'A-are we on? We rolling? Oh, thanks Jerry.'

'Come on, Park; what's the update on the situation?'

'R-right. _Ahem…_ My name is Linda Park, and I'm here on the Gem Cities Bridge reporting to you live. As we speak, villains such as Captain Boomerang, Deathstorm, Poison Ivy, Cheetah and Bizzaro are currently trying to be reprimanded by the likes of Tigress, Troia, Superboy, the Flash and one of the Green Lanterns. As you can see, it's going to be a tight squeeze for our heroes to take down the criminals, but as always, we hold hope', the young reporter said as she looked away, the camera following her line of vision to where the League and Team so ferociously fought.

'Tigress, Manoeuvre 7!' called Superboy as he slammed his fists into Deathstorm's chest.

The blonde had been dodging a striking vine, courtesy of Poison Ivy. She then looked up and sprinted toward the awaiting Kryptonian. Pushing off, she leapt into his hands before being catapulted up toward a clueless Bizzaro. The ugly clone turned his head to her incoming body, only to widen his eyes as she yelled a battle-cry, pummelling her legs into his disfigured jaw. He grunted, and pride swelled in her chest as he actually went back a few feet.

She then looked below to realise she was currently plummeting at an increasing pace toward the ground. 'Superboy, I don't exactly have any powers, so would you be a babe and, you know-'

Strong arms then wrapped around her, and she looked up to see her friend smiling. 'Now, would _you_ be a babe and-'

She smirked, aiming her crossbow at her target. 'Already on it.'

Satisfaction flooded her as she heard a very clear ' _ow!'_ below, followed by a hiss as Cheetah swung around.

'You enjoyed that too much.'

'What can I say? Never been much of a cat person, anyway', she quipped as she dropped to the ground.

She gave a two-fingered salute as Superboy bounded off, most likely to wherever the other clone had gone. Then glancing around, she saw that Troia had Captain Boomerang in a headlock as she laid her weight on his back. Flash was currently circling around Poison Ivy, drawing out the oxygen, leaving plant bits scattered on the ground, and a rather breathless Ivy in the middle of it all. _Smart move, Barry._

Green Lantern – Hal – was fighting both Cheetah and Deathstorm. Tigress sprinted toward the space cop to give some assistance, but he turned around to face her, smiling that charming grin that captured the hearts of so many. 'Tigress, I got these two morons – no problem.'

'Lantern, watch your left!' she called out as Deathstorm hurled a ball of fire toward his head. He created a fire extinguisher, and met the fire with a blast of will-powered foam.

'Seriously Tigress; I've got this. And now, I'd hate to be the person to ask you to do this… but could you manage crowd control for a bit?' he grunted out Cheetah swung her kicking legs into his side.

Part of her groaned at the thought of sitting idly on the sideline, showing civilians the way to safety whilst her teammates and friends fought for the lives. The other part was saying 'the civilians are why you do this. You do this to help them'.

 _Doesn't mean it's any less boring_ , she thought with a moan before straightening, nodding, and moving swiftly toward the crowd. She vaulted onto a levitated point so she could address them all.

'Everyone, I need your attention!' she exclaimed as the frightened/intrigued people looked up at her. 'I'm going to tell you all how to get out of here so you're safe, so I need you all to listen very closely and do exactly as I say!'

The blonde archer then quickly listed through what turns they should take at what speed, and they (thank God!) all responded with attentive nods. With that, she nodded and flipped down, gesturing for them to get moving.

A sudden scream alerted the young woman, who bolted around to see a hysteric, young mother looking around frantically. 'Someone, _please!_ Help, I need help!'

She sprinted over, stopping short just before the scared civilian. She held her hands up, trying to get her to calm down. 'What's the problem, ma'am?'

The woman raised a shaky hand and pointed toward an overturned car near them. 'I-it's my s-son. I m-managed to get out as the p-plants came, b-but… I c-couldn't get B-b-blake out…' she trailed off, before dissolving into tears again.

'It's okay', Tigress said, internally cringing at her awkwardness in comforting people. Not like she'd had the best example of comfort and sympathy growing up. 'I promise to you I'll get Blake out. Now, I know you're going to hate what I'm about to ask of you, but can you do me and my Teammates a favour and escort yourself to safety? Just follow where the crowd's going. I _promise_ I'll get Blake to you, one way or another.'

Indecisiveness crossed the woman's horrified face as she thought for a moment, before shakily nodding and managing a small 'okay.'

With that, Tigress swung around and headed straight to the car. She crouched down and immediately began taking down mental notes of what was before her. Car lodged between road and building wall at a 43 degree angle to the nose, weeds emerging from the road, crowding the inside of the car as they spread, currently making their way to a terrified, little boy in the far left seat of the middle row.

'Perfect', Tigress muttered to herself as she finished assessing the situation. _Yeah, perfect, cause the only things that could go wrong in this scenario is that a) the kid has a heart attack, b) the plants constrict him, or c) a fleck of dust lands on the car, causing the precarious angle that it's on to give way and_ squash _the kid…_

She pressed up against the glass and grasped his attention. His startled, green eyes met her misty grey ones. 'Hey there, kiddo. My name's Tigress, I'm a superhero and I'm gonna get you out, okay?'

The young boy beamed at her in spite of the situation, and nodded enthusiastically.

 _Guess it's not every day you get to be hauled out of car by a blonde in a tiger suit…_

* * *

Tigress was not patient; that much was already clear. So the fact that it had taken her thirty-one – no, thirty- _two_ – minutes to go as far as cutting out the tiniest hole in the glass window was starting to get on her nerves a bit.

'Hey, Tiger?' a little voice spoke up. 'Can I come out yet?'

Looking up and flicking her grimy locks behind her face, she smiled sympathetically. 'Sorry, buddy, just hang in there a _little_ longer. I know you're really bored, and you're getting pins and needles, right?' He nodded slightly, to which she smiled. 'You're doing really well, just a few more minutes and I'll have you out.'

'Okay Tiger', the young boy replied, sighing in submission and boredom.

 _You know, it's at a time like this that I'd_ love _a super-powered hero to give me a hand._

In that second, as though the sky answered her prayers, a green light emitted from above and an arcade claw gripped around the car structure.

'What in the… Hal?' Tigress asked as she glanced up, only to be shocked by what was above her. It was a Green Lantern, alright, but they definitely weren't Hal, John or Guy…

'Hey there!' the figure above called out with a young, friendly voice. Tigress could just imagine a Hal-like smile on his face. 'Thought you could use a hand.'

Rolling her eyes, she rose to her feet and rested her hands on her belt. 'Let me guess; you're the rookie Lantern that the other three have been going on about nonstop?'

She heard a chuckle, and then as he lowered himself onto the ground, she saw that grin she'd predicted to be plastered clearly on his tan face. 'All good things, I hope.'

She shrugged. 'Mostly. Thanks for the help, by the way, but I had it. I was just about to get the kid out.

'You're welcome', he scoffed as he up-righted the car, dead plants now shrivelling up inside of it. Inside of it, Blake's eyes shown in star-struck awe as he flicked his gaze between the blonde hero and the dark-haired one. His face lit up even more as the new Green Lantern went up the car and pulled open the door, lifted the young kid up and placed him on his shoulders, much to Blake's delight.

'Hey Tiger, look! I'm getting a ride on Green Lantern!' he exclaimed as he clapped in excitement.

Before she had a chance to reply, the new hero scoffed and looked to her. 'Tiger?'

'Ti _gress_ , actually. Tiger is just Blake's nickname for me. Speaking of the little guy', she said, walking up the Lantern and plucking the dirty-blonde-haired child off his shoulders to place on her hip, 'I've gotta take him back his mom now, so if you'll excuse me-'

'Tigress?'

All three swung around to see Troia landing on the ground close to them, worry evident on her face. 'I came to tell you that the battle is nearly over. The others and I hadn't heard from you and we were becoming concerned, so I came to look for- … who are you?' the Amazon asked, narrowing her eyes at the other dark-haired hero.

Looking to the Lantern, Tigress had to stifle a snort at the expression on his face. Snapping out of whatever thoughts he was having about the beautiful, young woman, he stuttered out, 'I uh, I-I'm Kyl- _I mean!_ I… am… Lantern Green – _Green Lantern_ , I mean-'

Stepping forward, the blonde took charge. 'Troia, this is the new Green Lantern. New Green Lantern, this is Troia.'

The warrior's face brightened as she extended her hand. 'Oh! You are the 'rookie' in which Hal, John and Guy spoke of. The first two have nothing but praise, but Gardner, it would seem…'

'Always finds the faults in people quicker than he finds the values?' he answered as he shook her hand, receiving an amused nod. 'Yeah, I've picked up on that. You learn to love it, though.'

'I find that rather difficult to believe.'

'Maybe I could show you what I mean.'

As Tigress got the feeling their PDA was about to go from 11 to 100 really quickly, she jostled the young boy on her back, gave a nonchalant wave and suggestive wink at the two heroes as they chatted, and ran off.

Suddenly, a distant _boom!_ reached her ears. The two looked up to where it had come from, and found their eyes cast to the hills beyond the city walls. Narrowing her eyes, Tigress looked for signs of a plane, jet or aircraft of any kind. _…Nothing…_

Just as she was turning back around, her eyes caught a flicker of something. Something bright, something awesome, something… yellow?

She swung back around, misty-grey eyes darting frantically to where she swore she'd seen the lightning. Or to where she'd at least _thought_ she'd seen it…

'Great, Tigress… now you're hallucinating…' she muttered as she took one last, sombre look before turning back around to start running again.

'What's hallcinatin', Tiger?' the little passenger on her back enquired.

She playfully jostled him on her back, earning a happy squeal from Blake. 'It's where you _think_ you see something, but you don't, and then you get all confused, and feel like you're going crazy. Kinda like me with you.'

'Tiger!'

She chuckled. 'I'm joking, kiddo. Now, keep an eye out for your mommy, okay? And let me know if you see her. I'll do the same.'

'Okay', he agreed, before perking up and nearly shouting in her ear, 'Oo, can we also play 'I Spy'?'

'Sure, but I'll have you know… I'm the world champion of 'I Spy'.'

He giggled. 'No you're not!'

'How would you know, mister?'

The banter between the young woman and little boy continued as she ran toward the crowd. It wasn't long before they found the anxious mother, and the two embraced sweetly as they crashed into each other's arms. Tigress couldn't help but smile at the one act of love that she'd received as a little girl. But even as she stood there, the nagging feeling in her stomach never strayed, and she dared to cast her eyes to the hills once more, looking at them wistfully, hopefully.

 _Could it… no. Artemis, stop doing this to yourself,_ she thought with one last tearful look at the hills before heading off toward the awaiting Javelin. _Wally's dead; he's not coming back… you need to accept it and_ move on _…_

But to her despair, it hit as her feet pounded against the road's surface, and she realised that she didn't know if she ever could…

* * *

'Back to you, Linda.'

'Thanks, Jesse. Well, as you can see, the culprits have been captured and are currently being taken into police custody. Investigations into what the criminals' motives were and what they succeeded with are already underway, but everyone, not just the citizens of the Gem Cities, can rest easy tonight, knowing that their heroes are watching over them', the young woman finished with a charming smile.

'Aaaaaand, _cut!_ ' the voice behind the camera called, and the reporter visibly relaxed, slouching over as she began to fan herself with her papers. 'Great job, Ms Park! For your first time on the job, and it being such a big one, you did awesome!'

She looked up at the camera man and gave a weary smile. 'Thanks, Jerry… I was feeling the pressure a bit doing that.'

He laughed. 'I'd be surprised if you _weren't_ … hey, uh, can I ask you a question? Kind of a weird one?'

'Sure thing.'

The young man looked to where the heroes of the day were currently climbing aboard their impressive jet. Linda had heard it being called the 'Javelin' here and there. They all had triumphant yet humbled expressions on their faces as they walked up the ramp. She watched on curiously as she saw one of them, Tigress, take a very final look toward something far off in the distance, loss clearly on her face, before the orange-and-black clad hero joined her comrades and climbed aboard.

'Do you ever wonder what it's like to be one of them? You know, having to juggle the hardship of normal life along with everything that comes with being a superhero?' he asked curiously.

Linda blinked in surprise, before softening into a smile. 'Honestly, I've questioned myself from time to time, but I've never had the right answer. We can only speculate, but my best guess is that it's hard, _damn_ hard. But that's what makes them the heroes that they are, I guess… don't quote me on that, alright?' she said with a friendly wink.

'One can only wonder…'

* * *

Wally couldn't believe his luck. Or lack thereof. Not even a minute ago had he come flying over the rolling hills that led toward Keystone when he'd seen the freaking Javelin of all things taking off into the air. He'd just missed them. Even with his new surplus-of-speed, he was still too slow and had just missed them.

 _Okay, not the best reunion I had in mind, but the day's still young!_ he thought with a burst of gumption. _I guess…_

Now in the heart of the city, he looked around, scouting for information on how had been here and why. There was a large Belle Reve truck that was pulling out, jostling slightly as it did with the bonus of shrill caterwauling. Wally found himself smiling as he pictured a furious Cheetah in the middle of it, giving Amanda Waller's flunkies more grief than they probably deserved. Probably.

As he watched the truck drive away, his gaze led him to an attractive, young Asian woman standing alongside an average-looking brunette guy. He zipped closer, standing behind a pillar to get a better look at the young couple, only to realize they most likely weren't a couple at all. The man had a massive camera tucked under one arm, and a folder of papers in the other. He was talking rather energetically to the young woman. Wally looked to her and was taken aback by her subtle beauty, with cropped, wavy black hair that framed her fair-skinned face. Striking, feline, hazel eyes shone with laughter as she agreed with whatever her friend was saying, microphone swinging in her hand.

 _A reporter, huh?_ Wally thought with a smirk, as curious finger traced his jawline, an idea springing into his head.

Stuffing his hands into the hoodie's pockets, he stepped from behind the pillar and walked toward the duo, an air of casualness surrounding him.

The reporter still hadn't seen Wally as he finished closing the distance, yet within the last few feet, the cameraman eyes found him and his eyebrows raised in scepticism.

'Yo, dude, can we help you?' he asked, causing the reporter to turn on the spot, eyes widening up at Wally's tall, muscular physique. He couldn't help noticing the light blush that dusted her cheeks.

He tried a charming smile, and it seemed to work as the cameraman's guarded demeanour lifted. 'Actually, I think you can. See, I'm an aspiring forensic scientist, and I couldn't help noticing you and your gorgeous friend's presence.'

The man chuckled, whilst the woman's blush deepened further as she stiffened. Wally thought she was going to explode for a second until she seemed to shake it out, and she flashed a flirty smile.

She talked a step toward him. 'So how may we be of assistance, Mister…?'

'West. Wally West. And I was hoping you'd be able to give me an insight on the latest JL vee Bad Guys brawl.' He added a wink for good measure.

She chuckled. 'Well, Mr. West, Wally West, you need to understand that simply can't sweet talk the information out of me. There'll be a price for your precious insight.'

Taking another step closer so he was tilting his head down to look at her, he said, 'Anything you want, I'll give, Miss…'

'Park, Linda Park.'

* * *

One baseball game and two double chocolate and fudge ice-creams later, Wally had all the possible details on the League's visit to Keystone, along with some little facts about Linda. He'd tried incredibly hard to keep from pounding his fist into the air at the how Barry, Hal and Conner, along with someone called Troia, had taken down some of the biggest names in the business. He hadn't even attempted to hide his laugh when Linda said there'd been yet _another_ Green Lantern spotted, and his heart swelled in his chest at the sound of Tigress' name, until doubt had swept over him.

 _Why'd she go back to being Tigress…_

He'd thanked Linda for all her assistance, to which she'd simply said if he wanted a rematch in baseball, to call her up, as she'd passed her number toward him. Following her depart, now refuelled with the much-needed ice-cream, Wally began his sprint to Palo Alto, assuming she was still there.

He'd changed back into his tattered suit, as after running about a mile, the hoodie had begun to catch fire, and his shoes were worn down to the sole. He felt a sense of nostalgia as he sped through the country, city after city. He glanced down at his watch, and anticipation set in as the minutes ticked by, slowly, slowly, until there was his ETA was in an hour's time.

Like the wings of a humming bird, his heart thumped against his ribs, threatening to break out at a moment's notice. He only hoped that Artemis had missed him as much as he missed her.

 **THE WATCHTOWER**

 **September 15, 17:40 EDT**

The second Tigress stepped out of the Javelin hanger, she was bombarded with a cacophony of what might've been 'music'. She slammed her hands over her ears, wincing, and turned to her side to see Superboy, Troia and New GL doing the exact same.

Above the noise, she managed to yell out, 'Welcome to the Watchtower, Kyle!'

'What'd you say?!'

'She said, _welcome to the Watchtower!'_ Donna screamed.

It took the young man a few moments to interpret her lips, but then he nodded. ' _Thanks!_ Mind if I ask _what on Earth is going on?!_ '

'Judging by the volume and the beat, I'd say the kids started karaoke already!'

' _What?!'_

The archer rolled her eyes, flinging her mask to the side before gesturing toward her. ' _Just follow me!'_

They ran through the hallways, manoeuvring through other Leaguers. Artemis cringed as she passed Superman, who was keeling over, trying to make his way to his sound-proof room. They continued on until they eventually arrived at the entertainment room, where the majority of the Team was seen to be dancing and laughing and watching as Gar, Tim, Bart and Jaime bounced around, mics in hands.

Artemis found herself smiling as she took in the scene, and looked to the side to see Donna clutching her stomach as she laughed, thanks to the ecstatic look on Kyle's face.

'This is what I'm talking about!' he yelled to Superboy, who simply scoffed as a small smile played at his lips.

Immediately all the action in the room froze, and all heads turned to the black-haired stranger.

Everything was silent and Artemis felt a pinch of amused sympathy toward the overwhelmed Lantern. Beside him, Donna chuckled softly.

 _It's good to see Miss One Woman Army is softening around someone_ other _than Cass_ , the blonde thought to herself.

As though voicing her thoughts, Garfield's cheeky head popped out from behind Jaime, grinning like an idiot. 'Hey Donna, you gonna introduce us to your new boyfriend?'

A few snorts followed as the Amazon stiffened, turning purple as she rounded on the half-Martian. 'Why, you insolent, little-'

Just like that, the noise level erupted, and things were flying, people were screaming and laughing, and Artemis stood beside the door, leaning against it as she watched Conner jump right into it. It was times like this that she felt a tinge of nostalgia as she looked on Cissie and Bart wrestling, Conner helping M'gann up right before she pushed him down, laughing her head off. She couldn't help but flashback to the sleepovers they used to hold at the cave, filled with sugar and excitement and movies and sugar. The days when _she'd_ have been among the tackling, jumping on the Originals before the sugar wore out and they all fell asleep on one another.

Those days were over though; they'd melted slowly as the years had gone on, and they'd completely disappeared along with Wally.

The same pit that formed in her stomach whenever she thought about her red-haired Baywatch returned to plague her once more, and she turned away from the fun and chaos.

She'd been walking toward the Zeta Tube when a familiar voice called out, 'Artemis!'

Swinging around, she turned to see Bart and Cissie running toward her, worry evident on their young faces. Immediately, she stuffed away all her demons and put on a smile. 'Hey, you two, where're you off to in such a hurry?'

For a moment, a light blushed sprinkled their cheeks as they looked away from one another, before turning back towards the young woman, serious expressions on.

'We're worried about you, Arty', Cissie said as she walked toward her sister-figure, flinging her arms around her.

Artemis was taken aback, looking away uncomfortably as she tried to hug the young girl back. 'I-I don't know what you mean, Cis-'

'Artemis', Bart cut in, moving toward her. 'You're strong, one of the strongest people any of us has ever met. We know that, the Team knows it, and you know it too. But when you're hurting, it's okay to tell people about it, to let them know when you're not okay.'

'But, I am okay, really B-'

Cissie looked up at her, tears now forming in her eyes. 'No, you're not. You're putting up a really big wall, and it's working for the majority…'

'But we're not the majority. We can see how much pain you're in, how much it pains you to wake up every day and realise that Wally…' Bart trailed off, sounding choked.

'W-what we're trying to say is…' Cissie said, forcing Artemis gaze back to her, 'whenever, _wher_ ever you need to talk, cry, or just think about it, we're here. We'll always be here for you.'

In that moment, something inside of Artemis crumpled, but she dared not to let it show as she hugged two of the most important people in her life. 'You guys… love you both so much…' taking in a deep breath, she straightened, smiling at them. 'But I'm fine, _really_. I'm just feeling a bit sleep-deprived and overwhelmed. Need a good rest back at my place with Rupert. Could you guys do me favour, though, and make sure Kyle's okay? He's the new Lantern we walked in with before.'

Cissie and Bart looked to each other, uncertainty flowing between them, before Bart finally spoke up, 'Sure… we guess.'

'Thanks a bunch', Artemis said with a sigh of relief, happy to somewhat have gotten them off her back. 'See you two later.'

'Bye, Arty.'

'See ya, Artemis.'

The 21-year-old then moved toward the Tubes, and just as she stepped into it, she turned back to see Bart reaching for Cissie's hand as they walked back toward excitement. A smile formed on her lips.

' _Recognised: Tigress B07."_

 **PALO ALTO**

 **September 15, 19:57 PDT**

After a few drinks at the local pub, Artemis felt even more drained than before. Walking toward home, she'd felt her head spinning slightly.

 _Too much vodka_ , she thought as the bile in her throat rose. Yet, she knew the alcohol wasn't the main reason for her aching body. Thoughts of Wally had been running through her head since she'd stepped out of the Zeta Tube.

'Why'd the stupid bastard have to go and be all noble and heroic?' she thought out loud, cursing as she felt around for her house-keys.

 _You know why; because he's Wally. Stupid, noble, heroic Wally,_ she thought with a pang, he heart aching as she remembered turning around to find he was already out the Zeta Tube. _He never said goodbye…_

She'd been so consumed with her lost boyfriend that she hadn't even realised until then that her keys weren't in her bag at all. 'Shit.' Dumping the bag on a bench on the footpath beside her house, she rummaged through the content of her bag. University pass, wallet, _crossbow_ , several makeup items, _escrima sticks_ , but no stupid keys.

'Perfect…' she muttered for the second time that day. _At least there's the spare._

But as she walked toward the stairs of the house, she realised the upstairs lights were on. And that the door was open. Whipping out the loaded crossbow, flicking off the safety, she made her way up the stairs. She widened her eyes when she saw that

Expecting to walk in and find her house in shambles, she was even more surprised to find that if anything, it was cleaner. There were only two people alive who knew where she kept the spare key: Dick and Barbara, who was currently patrolling in Gotham.

'Dick?' she called out. 'You in here?'

Silence followed. 'Dick, seriously, if you're in here and you don't answer me this second, I'm going to murder you.'

She froze at the sound of snoring, snoring that sounded hauntingly familiar. Artemis felt her heart knocking at her ribs, like a bird desperate to escape a cage. She urged it to settle, to not get her hopes up only to send them plummeting back to the bottom of her chest.

Gulping, crossbow shaking in her heads, she moved toward the sound of the peaceful sleeper, seeing it lead straight to her room. The door was open, yet she couldn't see to the bed. She wasn't quite sure if she wanted to.

Heart thrumming in her throat, mind whizzing with excited thoughts left, right and centre, she took a deep, yet shaky breath, closing her eyes, and she stepped into the room.

Artemis could faintly hear the clang of the crossbow as it hit the carpet beneath her. Everything stilled; her heart, her body, the air, everything except her mind, though even it was incredibly quiet, only daring to think one thing.

 _Wally_

'Wally?' she breathed out, feeling the room around her spin she gazed upon the unconscious, battered, yellow, red-haired man. Slowly, inch by inch, she moved toward the rising form that resembled her 'dead' boyfriend. She carefully lowered herself onto the bed, daring not to disturb the sleeping body.

He looked like Wally. He sounded like Wally. He _seemed_ like Wally.

Did he _feel_ like Wally?

Raising a careful hand, she slowly went to brush some red strands off his dirty face. The shaking in her hand increased as she neared him, until she thought she might just slap him, entirely by accident.

And then she touched him.

 _Zap!_ A jolt of electricity scorched her skin, yet she'd never felt more alive. In that moment, his eyelids lifted to reveal stunning, green irises, with huge pupils staring straight back up at her.

Gazing at one another in shock and awe for few moments, before the man she was now 99% sure was the love of her life bolted upright.

' _Ow!_ Shit!' he cursed, rubbing his head. Then he turned to look at her, and a hopeful smile on his face. Artemis felt frozen. Nothing had been going through her mind since she'd seen him but ' _wally'._

'Arty…' he murmured, a gentle hand moving toward her cheek. Another jolt went through her as he cupped it, thumb caressing her. 'It's me…'

She looked at him, eyes narrowing as tears of pain, joy, and complete disbelief filled them. 'It's really you?'

In that moment, she'd never seen love so pure and strong as she did then in his own eyes, reflecting her joy. 'It's really me.'

 _Slap!_

'I'm going to freaking _murder_ you, Wallace Rudolph West, you son of a bitch!'

Wally's eyes widened as he ducked an oncoming pillow. He looked like a deer caught in headlights as he looked on her, fear now coming over him. Suffering the wrath of Artemis Crock was unlike anything he'd ever experienced, and he was in no shape to go through it again.

'Arty, please, just listen-'

' _Don't_ you 'Arty' me, you bastard. You let me believe you were dead for, oh, I dunno, _eighteen fucking months?!_ And now you just come back here and _sleep on our bloody bed like it's nobody's business!'_

Wally couldn't help a smirk. 'Well, as you just said, it is _our_ -'

 _Thwack!_ 'Okay, that one kinda hurt.'

Artemis, in all her fury, lifted the pillow again before lowering it onto him hard. 'I.' _Thwack!_ 'AM.' _Thwack!_ 'GOING.' _Thwack!_ 'TO.' _Thwack!_ 'KILL.' _Thwack!_ 'YOU.'

In one of the breaks, Wally took his chance, grabbed the furious blonde and tackled her until she pinned beneath him, squirming.

'You'd better let go of me _this instance,_ you- _mmph!_ '

Wally's lips smashed into hers, squeezing his eyes shut as he waited, prayed for her to kiss him back. It took a few moments, but then his heart soared as he felt her lips move against his, and he felt himself melt against her. He felt like he was in ecstasy as her arms slipped around over his neck, holding firm as she brought him closer toward her, bodies touching. He curled his own arms around her waist, hands finding the small of her back, arching her up.

It was pure bliss for the both of them, until Wally felt Artemis push him off to the side.

'Woah!' he laughed as she moved to straddle him, a menacing look on her face as she closed the space between them once more.

'Let me get one thing clear', she said, slightly breathless. 'You're not off the hook, not at all. But before I serve you your punishment, I've missed like you wouldn't believe, so I'm going to kiss you senseless first.'

'Anything for you, babe. Anything at all.'

Tears were now coming from both of them as they smiled at each other with joy and undying love. Artemis then leaned down to give him one, wet, passionate kiss before pulling slightly away, foreheads touching.

'Please tell me I'm not dreaming', she whispered, tears still brimming in her misty eyes as Wally brushed stray blonde locks behind her ear.

'When I'm with you, Artemis, it always feels like a dream. But if you're asking if it's real, then it's the realist', he replied. A moment of content silence passed between them before Artemis let herself fall on top of him, tucking her head into the crook of his neck. Wally responded by wrapping an arm around her waist, the other reaching for one of her hands.

Artemis looked at his broken Kid Flash emblem, and said, 'You were really gone, weren't you?'

He blinked, looking at their joined hands. 'Yeah. Yeah, I was.'

'H-how'd you… you know…'

'How'd I come back?' he paused. 'Well, after the chrysalis, you know… I went into the Speed Force. There, the Speed Force told me-'

'The Speed Force _told_ you?'

He scoffed. 'Yeah, now _shush_ , Arty Farty, you're not letting me finish. Anyway, the Speed Force told me about all of it, how it was the place where all speedsters come to… to lay their final rest. I, being the douchebag that I am, wasn't okay with being stuck in oblivion forever, objected to this.'

'Stubborn jackass', she chuckled.

'I kept thinking about you, Mom and Dad, Dick, everyone, and asked about a way out. And the only way it said I could get out was if I was 'summoned', he said with air-quotes. 'Next thing I knew, I woke up, face flat on the tundra. That was around 6ish this morning.'

'Summoned, huh?' Artemis said, eyebrows furrowing. 'What the hell's that supposed to mean?'

'I dunno, but can we figure it out in the morning? I kinda wanna get back to the 'kissing me senseless thing', he said with a wink.

'You dork.' With that, she spun around and their lips met once more. Twice more. A thousand times more.

Then, hours later, as they lay in the folds of the sheets, suit and clothes removed, Wally looked down to his girlfriend, who was once more curled up against him, as though he'd never left. Turning on his side and propping himself up so he could get a better look at her, he smiled. Whatever happened next, he knew he could take it, as long as Artemis was by his side. His little spitfire.

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 ***sobs quietly in background* o-oh, you're still here? Wel; *ahem* don't mind me, just... crying over MY BABIEEEEES**

 **Seriously though, in that last part, I was listening to sound the bugle, and it was killing me...**

 **UPDATE: I'm going to start answering reviews and questions down here from next chapter onwards so yay! keep em coming guys**

* * *

 **QUESTION OF THE CHAPTER: How would you all feel about a surprise LGBT couple? And not one you'd suspect**

 **Eg... BirdFlash, Bluepulse, Whatever-you-call-Arty-and-M'gann, etc. NOT mainstream ones...**

* * *

 **Remember to Review, Favourite and Follow**

 **Much love,**

 **~SpitfireWestAllen15**

* * *

 **P.S. GO CHECK OUT MY YOUTUBE CHANNEL! its under the same name**

 **channel/UC3mLRUFd5vzzSNoBG-EnLTg - Channel**

 **watch?v=Z9TuGgB1Fbw - dick &babs / lucky strike**

 **Its only got one vid, and I made it with Movie Maker so its pretty shit... but if you guys could support, Id love you for it all the more**


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